All posts by n8rngtd.top

Gaurav Sundararaman18-Nov-201661.14Average of R Ashwin in the first innings of a Test match in 2016. He has scored two centuries and two fifties. Ashwin also scored his fourth fifty today against England – his best against any opposition. He averages 50.90 against them.80 Runs for which England lost their first five wickets. This is their sixth lowest ever against India in India. Previously they lost five for 69 runs in Ahmedabad in 2012.47.6 Strike Rate of Moeen Ali against India in Tests- second best for any spinner with 25 wickets . Ali’s average against India’s top seven batsmen is 28.75 – best among spinners in the last 10 years. The next best is Graeme Swann with 34 wickets at an average of 34.2 Number of times that Alastair Cook has been dismissed bowled by a pacer in Asia. Previous instance of the same was during Cook’s debut in 2006 when he was bowled by Irfan Pathan in Nagpur.8 Number of fifty plus scores for Root versus India in 12 inns – most by him against any team. He had seven fifty plus scores against Australia in 27 innings.8-6 Number of reviews taken by India and England respectively. India has been successful on two occasions while England has not been successful yet. Cheteshwar Pujara was reprieved of a leg before decision in the last Test while Jayant Yadav reviewed successfully against Moeen Ali today.

The limp batting performances carried out so far by Sri Lanka in the first two Tests are threatening to limit future touring opportunities to South Africa

Andrew Fidel Fernando at Newlands04-Jan-2017For the first time in the Test, it feels like Sri Lanka have batsmen at the crease, instead of Colombo traffic policemen redirecting oncoming balls towards the slips. The most experienced men in the batting order are in the middle. Dinesh Chandimal leaps back and across to crack Vernon Philander through the covers. Angelo Mathews whip-sweeps Keshav Maharaj through backward square leg next over. For the first time, with the bat, they look like they have the will to fight.Newlands though, is paying them only the scantest attention. The stands are far from full. Even those watching know there is no tension in this fight.Around lunchtime, Cricket South Africa issues a press release confirming Australia will visit for four Tests in February and March next year. Bangladesh were already announced as the early summer tour. Sri Lanka were supposed to return to South Africa in between those tours, but it looks increasingly likely that they have been jilted. CSA are understood to be wooing India for that home series instead.

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In 1998, Sri Lanka won a Test at The Oval and Arjuna Ranatunga delivered one of cricket’s great boasts. Sri Lanka were World Champions by then, but had never won a Test in England. In fact, they had never even played a series – this having been a one-off game.But when Ranatunga strutted into the press conference, he crowed that the win had never really been in doubt. “The reason I put England into bat on a flat pitch,” he said, “is because otherwise, we would have bowled them out too quickly and enforced the follow-on – I wanted my spinner to have some rest.” You can imagine his voice ringing with condescension, can’t you? The smirk that must have been on his face?Sri Lanka’s subsequent tours to England have all been multi-match affairs. There are a couple of wonderful series among them: the 1-1 draw in 2006, for example, or the 1-0 victory in 2014 in which both matches went down to the last two balls.But few people outside the island really refer to these as classics. Just like few outsiders remember Ranatunga’s words as an all-time brag.This has always been the way Sri Lankan cricket is perceived overseas. Even when runs are made and wickets taken. Even when matches are won, and the finishes are riveting, there is no one much to care.

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The man who won Sri Lanka that Oval Test has lived the past two decades with a large chip upon his shoulder. He has taken 800 Test wickets, 534 ODI scalps, bamboozled a great Indian top order at the Feroz Shah Kotla, practically devoured them at home, won a World Cup, an IPL, Asia Cups, all while being one of the leading humanitarians in the sport, and yet, he finds his integrity constantly under siege.Along the way, there is almost nothing he hasn’t done to prove the legality of his action. He has passed the biomechanical tests and proved his doosra was within extension limits. He has paraded his variations on camera while wearing an inflexible plaster cast. To show off his double-jointed shoulder, he has lost his shirt more often than a frat boy at a keg party. In 2014, he even invited English journalists to his house and told them to play with his elbow, just to prove it was permanently bent.Can you imagine any other cricket debate in which evidence stacks up so monumentally on one side, only for doubts to remain? Even now, intelligent cricket voices say things like: “There will always be an asterisk over him,” or “they changed the law solely for his benefit”. To call this intellectual laziness is inadequate, because for it to be laziness, the information required to come upon informed conclusion must be widely available. It is more like intellectual apathy. Maybe he didn’t chuck, but who really cares?Overseas, much of Sri Lankan cricket is about this fight for acceptance. Sri Lanka are often the precursor guest before bigger series begin. They are the names commentators haven’t heard of, until they are the names they manglingly mispronounce.Their best player, who if rationality prevailed should unequivocally be remembered as one of the greatest in his generation, is instead distrusted. He is only grudgingly included in the best player lists. His defining performances often get only faint praise.

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In this Sri Lanka XI, there are no fewer than seven players who grew up and went to school in Basnahira (Western Province) where Colombo is. Two others are from Ruhuna (South), one more from Kandy (Central) and another from the bottom tip of Wayamba (Northwest). If you are unfamiliar with the geography, this may seem at first like a decent spread, but consider that in all, there are nine provinces.The formerly war-struck regions in the north and east are yet to produce a Test cricketer, which is understandable. But there have also been barely a handful of Test cricketers from centres like Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa or Badulla, which is not. Cricket is no less popular in those parts, but promising young players are often unwilling to ditch the remainder of their prospects. It is too great a risk to move to Colombo and join a big club.This should be a problem that Sri Lanka Cricket have found a solution to by now. It is one that has long been in stark evidence for at least two decades. But instead of taking cricket meaningfully into the provinces, a series of SLC boards has chosen to back an archaic club model, which is enshrined, in part, in the board’s constitution. Instead of having clearheaded cricket administrators, Sri Lanka is beset by political show ponies and corporate yes men.This puts the nation’s cricket in a difficult place, because although it is true Sri Lanka are without the population of India, or Pakistan, or Bangladesh, and do not have the financial stability of South Africa, England, or Australia, what slim resources they do command, they harness with comical inefficiency.

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Chandimal and Mathews knock gloves as they depart the field at stumps. They have forged Sri Lanka’s best partnership of the match, but their association has only yielded 61. To even dream of a win or draw from this position is ludicrous, and it would be a small miracle even to make it through the next three sessions. CSA will not be expecting gate earnings on day five.Every time Sri Lanka play overseas, they are not merely competing for runs and wickets, they fight for relevance, they fight to be thought of, they fight to matter, they fight for the right to play the next tour.But instead of a well-drilled professional outfit representative of the whole of their cricket-loving island, they have XI guys from roughly the southwest quarter, who have been picked from a woeful first-class system, and whose existence most South African locals were barely even aware of, and whom they now have little desire to see again next summer.In Port Elizabeth, and now at Newlands as well, Sri Lanka have continued to lose the fight.

It wasn’t a perfect performance but it came against the No. 1 ODI team. And it did provide a reminder that, for all their frailty with the bat, they have a potent bowling attack that can win them games

George Dobell at Edgbaston08-Jun-2017Just when even their most loyal supporters were beginning to lose faith, just as the cornered tigers had started to look like tamed kittens, long after the cliché about them being mercurial had become not so much a description, as a desperate expression of hope, Pakistan go and do something like this.You didn’t think they had become predictable, did you?Victory here – albeit in another rain-ravaged match in a tournament that is in danger of drowning – not only revives their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals, but suggests things are not quite as bad as they seemed against India on Sunday night.Nobody should think that all Pakistan’s issues are resolved. They still lack big-hitting batsmen; they still have a long tail; they still need to find a way to produce more batsmen and they probably benefited from the shortened nature of the match. For some, this performance will just render Sunday’s drubbing all the more frustrating. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the magnitude of that occasion simply rattled them.But this victory did come against the world’s No.1 ranked ODI team. And it did provide a reminder that, for all their frailty with the bat, they have a potent bowling attack that, given just a bit of support from its fielders, can win them games.There were several factors behind Pakistan’s improvement, not least the selection, the fielding and an oddly-tentative performance from South Africa who, it has to be said, played a large part in their own downfall. This was almost a stereotypical performance from both teams, with one unpredictably brilliant and the other unpredictably wilting under pressure. It was all so very Pakistan. And all so very South Africa.But the key ingredient was reverse swing. In a tournament that has been characterised by the impotence of bowlers, Pakistan at last found a way to make the ball move laterally. It was only an inch or two; it was only for a while. But that reverse swing gave Pakistan a weapon and they have bowlers who knew how to use it.The swing was probably created by the surface. With poor weather convincing the groundsman to abandon plans to use a new pitch – he was concerned it would start damp, the ball would make indentations in it and it would then be unsuitable for usage in Saturday’s match between England and Australia – it was decided, instead, to revert to the surface used in the first two matches of this tournament at Edgbaston.That meant it was drier and a bit more abrasive than previous matches. And with Pakistan introducing spin into the attack early, allowing them to scuff up one side of the balls perfectly legally, the Pakistan seamers were able to return as early as the 23rd over and Hasan Ali struck in the 29th – meaning that ball was only 15 overs old – and attack at a time batsmen have been tending to dominate in this tournament.3:28

Fleming: Hasan Ali could play more prominent role with new ball

Hasan struck with successive deliveries in that over. Angling the ball into JP Duminy from around the wicket, Hasan persuaded it to leave the left-handed batsman just a touch but enough to draw the edge and reward Pakistan for persisting with a slip when they saw the first signs of movement. Wayne Parnell fell in almost identical fashion to the next delivery, only he missed the ball entirely and lost his off stump as a consequence.By then, though, Pakistan’s spinners had already claimed three wickets out of six. After Junaid Khan, far more accurate than the injured Wahab Riaz, and Mohammad Amir conceded only three fours in the first Powerplay, the spinners built pressure. While there was little sign of any turn, the pitch was slow enough to render stroke-making a little more difficult than has been the case so far this tournament and, with Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez bowling admirably straight, any mistake by South Africa’s jittery batsmen was punished.To apply any pressure, though, it was essential Pakistan produced a better display in the field. They were unrecognisable from the rabble we saw on Sunday. From the first moments, throws buzzed back towards the keeper in the field. Fielders threw themselves around in an attempt to cut-off the ball – Hasan launched himself full length to save a run in the opening minutes – and all the trepidation of Sunday was replaced with commitment, belief and desire.There was still a ghost from the past. Ahmed Shehzad, dropped after his apparently ambivalent performance in the first match, was briefly pressed into use as a substitute fielder and promptly conceded a run after letting the ball bobble through his hands at cover. On Sunday, such errors hardly stuck out as they were the norm; here it was an infuriating aberration.Shehzad’s replacement also impressed with the bat on his ODI debut. While it would be an exaggeration to say Fakhar Zaman was completely convincing – he took two crushing blows off bouncers, one to the head and another to the shoulder – he was wonderfully committed to the cause. By the time he had faced 11 deliveries, he had struck more fours (three) than anyone in the South Africa side and by the time he had faced 18, he had struck three more. It was exactly the bold start a nervous Pakistan side required and in stark contrast to Shehzad’s cagey performance of Sunday. It allowed them to soak up later pressure – at one stage they faced three maidens in succession and scored only four runs in five overs – and ensure they were still ahead of the rate when the rain came.But the improvement on Sunday’s performance was best summed-up by Hasan’s fielding. Having failed to hold on to a chance off Yuvraj Singh at long-off – and failing to reach another possible chance – he took two in a similar position here with the second, to dismiss Kagiso Rabada, an excellent running effort.It wasn’t, by any means, a perfect performance. But it was a decent step in the right direction.

Former Yorkshire and England offspinner Geoff Cope’s biography is a good-natured, insightful look back at the career of a man who was no stranger to adversity

David Hopps26-Aug-2017Fairfield Books has claimed a valuable niche in the world of cricket publishing. In its pages lie the neglected voices of the game’s past, valuable and award-winning stories about the likes of Bob Appleyard and Tom Cartwright, players who never achieved the greatest or longest-lasting fame but about whom there were valuable insights to be gained and stories to tell.Much in that vein comes
By Stephen Chalke
Fairfield Books
£16, 256 pages

Ahead of the Ranji season, ESPNcricinfo takes a look at six players who are on the periphery of the Indian Test team

Sreshth Shah05-Oct-20171:54

Aakash Chopra’s top 5 picks for the Ranji season

Abhinav Mukund
The Tamil Nadu opener averaged 65.30 in the Ranji Trophy last year and was his team’s highest run-scorer. Lurking as the fourth-choice opener since he made his international debut in 2011, Abhinav replaced the injured KL Rahul for the first Test of the Sri Lanka series in July this year. He walked in with an average of just 18.91 from his previous six Tests, but a career-best of 81 in the second innings in Galle might have done just enough to keep Abhinav in the selectors’ radar during the upcoming season.Despite being in good touch during last year’s Ranji, where he scored four centuries and three fifties in ten games, Abhinav will aim to better his record from last season when he finished as the ninth-highest run-getter. He would also hope that he gets a longer run if and when he gets the next Test call-up.The selectors would want: Consistency and fitness.
Karun Nair
His 303* made him only the second Indian to record a triple-century after Virender Sehwag. However, Nair’s next-highest Test score is 26. Since being dropped after the Dharamsala Test against Australia this March, following a string of poor scores, Nair led India A’s four-day teams for the tour of South Africa and in the home series against New Zealand A.In eight first-class innings for the ‘A’ team, Nair scored only one half-century and in the four 50-over games, he made only 95 runs. Nair possesses both technique and temperament, but the pressure of expectations after the triple-hundred seems to have affected him. With mentors like Rahul Dravid around him, he will know the path back is about converting starts, showing the hunger, focus and determination. There is no other remedy.The selectors would want: Nair to return to scoring big.
Shreyas Iyer
Iyer is competing for the same slot as Nair, but the numbers are in his favour. The 22-year old from Mumbai is in the best form among batsmen fighting for a middle-order slot. Iyer has scores of 82, 108 and 65 in his last three first-class innings, and had made an unbeaten 202 against Australia in the tour match, for India A, earlier this year. He also showed promise on the India A tour, where he scored an unbeaten 140 against South Africa A in the final of the one-day tri-series. An aggressive batsman, Iyer is working hard at learning the right skills from Dravid as well as his personal coach Praveen Amre.The selectors would want: For him to stay consistent in the Ranji season and make use of the India A opportunities.
Parthiv Patel flays one through the off side•BCCIParthiv Patel
Parthiv Patel’s played a big role in Gujarat’s Ranji Trophy win last year. Runs at the top, followed up by sharp wicketkeeping, saw Parthiv get a Test call-up during England’s tour last year as a makeshift opener and a replacement for Saha. He repaid the selectors’ faith with two important fifties in three Tests.Recently, Parthiv was called as a replacement for Rishabh Pant for India A’s matches against New Zealand A in Vijayawada, where he scored 65 in the only innings he played in the series. At the moment, he seems to be doing everything right, and has vastly improved behind the stumps as well; what also goes in his favour is that Parthiv can double up as India’s Test opener as well. He remains a favourite if India need a back-up wicketkeeper for tours abroad.The selectors would want: Parthiv to stay fit and in form.
Shardul Thakur
Thakur recently had a whiff of international cricket, playing the last two ODIs in India’s whitewash of Sri Lanka last month. In two matches, he took only one wicket, but the selectors have made it clear that the fast bowler remains high on their list.His in-your-face attitude, coupled with tight lines, has helped Shardul emerge as the country’s premiere quick in domestic cricket. And while Thakur took only 27 wickets in last year’s Ranji season, his wicket-taking abilities in the two seasons prior brought him in the radar. He was part of the five back-up players named by India during the Champions Trophy in England, and took six wickets in two first-class games against New Zealand A recently.His consistency over the past few seasons has seen him develop as India’s back-up in ODIs; Thakur will now aim to make a mark in the first-class circuit.The selectors would want: Thakur to improve and stay consistent with his pace, bowl longer spells
Shahbaz Nadeem
The highest wicket-taker of the last two Ranji seasons, Nadeem is at the top of his game at the moment. Nadeem took 14 wickets in two first-class matches recently against New Zealand A, which followed 11 wickets in two away matches against South Africa A, to make a strong case for Test selection.Nadeem bowls a nagging line, and his spin – or sometimes the lack of it – can get the better of batsmen who begin to lose their patience. He finished with 13 wickets more than the second-highest wicket-taker last season in the Ranji Trophy, and is the highest-rated spinner among those playing the trade in domestic cricket.The chances of India looking beyond R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav remain slim, especially abroad. He is likely to face competition from Karn Sharma, who also is on the selectors’ radar, and could be a more attractive option as a legspinner. However Nadeem can only continue to believe.The selectors would want: For him to carry his current form forward and bowl match-winning spells.

Added edge to India-Pakistan clash in six-team event; Bangladesh eye pathway to the Caribbean while Sri Lanka eye coup without key players

Annesha Ghosh02-Jun-2018The seventh women’s Asia Cup kicks off in Malaysia on June 3. This will be the third successive edition that will be played in the T20 format. Six teams – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia – will compete over eight days for the title. The winners will get the perfect leg-up in form and confidence as they build towards Women’s World T20 in the Caribbean in November. Here’s how the teams stack up ahead of the tournament.India v Pakistan: the unfamiliar in a familiar rivalry

June 18. Champions Trophy final. Sarfraz Ahmed’s men topple the favourites in front of a sell-out crowd. Two weeks later, India women comfortably emerged victors in front of a full house Derby at the Women’s World Cup.In the women’s arena, their previous T20I memorably ended in India captain Harmanpreet Kaur spearing a stump back into the hole to celebrate the side’s sixth straight title victory, in Bangkok in 2016. Freshly relieved from T20 captaincy, Mithali Raj drove India’s title-winning 2016 Asia Cup campaign with a chart-topping tally. For runners-up Pakistan, Javeria Khan carried the mantle with an average roughly half of Raj’s 110.In the 18 months since, Raj’s wavering form has coincided with India’s away-from-home triumph against South Africa in January and big-margin defeats in a forgettable T20I tri-series against England and Australia at home in March. Pakistan, meanwhile, recovered from a 4-0 clean-sweep in the T20I series against New Zealand to clinching their maiden double-series win in Sri Lanka in March courtesy a record ODI hundred and a record T20I fifty from Javeria.India’s pursuit of a seventh straight Asia Cup title could be tested by a resurgent Pakistan, under new coach Mark Coles. The return of senior batsman Nain Abidi, who, along with frontline spinner Nida Dar topped the runs and wickets charts respectively in the domestic T20 competition, will boost their line-up. Yet Pakistan will have to contend with Australia-humbling, England-numbing one-woman force: Smriti Mandhana and India’s plethora of left-arm spinners, including Ekta Bisht – the leading wicket-taker at the 2016 edition and the overall experience India’s players may have drawn from the IPL-styled T20 challenge.
Annesha Ghosh/ESPNcricinfo LtdBangladesh 2.0?

Their only Asia Cup win came on debut, against Sri Lanka in 2012. They haven’t played a subcontinental side since 2016 and were beaten 5-0 and 3-0 in the ODIs and T20Is away by South Africa. Now, they have a new head coach in India’s Anju Jain. Can the tide turn?They will hope Fargana Hogue (leading run-getter during the South Africa series), medium-pacer Panna Ghosh (involved in two record lower-order partnerships for Bangladesh) and Shamima Sultana (only Bangladesh batsman to score a fifty each in the ODI and T20I series) continue their recent run of form.The bigger picture, of course, remains the World T20 Qualifiers in Netherlands in July. What better way to prepare than a competitive Asia Cup? Meanwhile, Rumana Ahmed will join team-mates Jahanara Alam and Khadija-Tul Kubra in the Women’s Global Development Squad for matches against the Kia Super League sides soon after the Qualifiers.Sri Lanka’s injury woes

In a tournament featuring non-ODI nations Thailand and Malaysia, Sri Lanka would ideally fancy a top-three finish. They have been the runners-up four times in the six editions of the Asia Cup.Despite their two recent consecutive defeats – against West Indies away and against Pakistan at home – Sri Lanka may have still backed themselves to put on a typically strong showing. Now, they have to do it without T20I captain Chamari Atapattu and pace-bowling allrounder Ama Kanchana. Four years after relinquishing the captaincy, Shashikala Siriwardene is back to helm the side. Can she rise to the challenge?BCCIPlayers to watch

Pakistan’s Javeria Rauf returns after a four-year layoff. Her surprise recall is down largely to three half-centuries that made her the second-highest run getter in the four-team domestic T20 competition. Her team, the PCB XI, eventually finished runners-up.Another player on a comeback trail is Bangladesh’s Shamima Sultana. The wicketkeeper marked her international return by scoring a half-century each in the ODI and T20I series in South Africa. Her boundary-hitting aptitude could bolster her team’s chances of pulling off an upset or two in the competition.Expect the teenaged Jemimah Rodrigues and Pooja Vastrakar to inject vigour into India’s ailing T20 health. On the traditionally road-like Kinrara Oval tracks and the shortish boundaries of the Royal Selangor Club, Rodrigues’ resolve at the top of the order would be vital in propping up a red-hot Mandhana during India’s last big T20 assignment before the World T20. Should India lose a wicket early, Vastrakar, who famously hit the nervy winning runs in the one-off IPL exhibition game, could earn a promotion. Can she showcase her natural flamboyance in the Powerplay?

Despite a crushing defeat in the final match at Colombo, England ended their ODI series in Sri Lanka with a clearer idea of their World Cup plans

George Dobell24-Oct-2018England’s rain-affected ODI series in Sri Lanka was their penultimate opportunity to finalise their squad for the 2019 World Cup. And in spite of a crushing defeat in the final match at Colombo, they ended this leg of the tour with several issues confirmed.

Morgan is indispensable

Ahead of this series, there had been whispers about Eoin Morgan’s place in the side. That was understandable: with a batsman as good as Alex Hales fighting for a place, Morgan’s somewhat streaky form – he had scored one fifty in 15 innings up to and including the defeat in Edinburgh in June – was becoming a talking point. He acknowledged this ahead of the series when insisting he would have no hesitation in dropping himself if he wasn’t contributing sufficiently. But Morgan offers more than runs: as the leader of this side, he has played a huge role in transforming it from also-rans at the last World Cup to favourites going into the next one. The drop in intensity shown by England in the field when Morgan left himself out of the final game was revealing though it may, in part, have been due to the fact the series was already settled. Morgan rediscovered something like his best form with the bat, too. He has scored half-centuries in four of his last six ODI innings (and six of his last 10) with the other two both not out. Any suggestion that England could do without him has been banished.

It would be harsh to judge Sam Curran on one game played on a very flat pitch. But the fact is, with only one series to come before England select their World Cup squad, that was probably his one opportunity to show what he could do. While doubts remain about how often David Willey will contribute 10 overs – he has done so only twice in his 25 most recent ODIs – he is dangerous with the new ball and showed notable improvement over the course of the English summer both with his batting and his ability to come back into the attack with the older ball. Morgan made the point in the press conference after the series in acknowledging England saw Curran as “a potential replacement if Willey is injured”. Aged 20, Sam Curran may have a huge part to play in several World Cups but he may be reliant on injury to Willey to play any part in the 2019 one.

Woakes and Plunkett are World Cup bankers

Chris Woakes’ value was demonstrated most keenly when he didn’t play. Without him in Colombo, Sri Lanka were able to start brightly – England conceded more runs in the first 15 overs than any time since February 2016 – and England’s spinners were obliged to bowl against well-set batsmen. There is no doubt that Woakes will, if fit, take the new ball for England in the World Cup. There’s not much doubt, either, that Liam Plunkett will bowl in the middle overs of the innings. While his return to the side in Colombo was underwhelming, and it seems he is unable to generate the pace he once could, his ability hit the pitch hard and the control of his cutters render him a hugely valuable asset. And, for all the pace of Olly Stone and Mark Wood, they do not offer quite the same package of middle-overs skills. Plunkett may be in a gentle decline, but the World Cup should come soon enough to ensure he remains a valuable part of the England attack.Chris Woakes, surrounded by crows, waits to bowl•Getty Images

Every game on England’s tour to date has been affected by weather. Most of them very badly with two – the second warm-up and the first ODI – abandoned entirely. It was not an unpredictable problem: this is monsoon season in Sri Lanka. It was always going to rain. So why did it happen? Because administrators are so desperate for money – or greedy, if you prefer – that they cram as much cricket as possible into the year without pausing to consider the long-term damage caused to players, spectator numbers (there are a few who have spent thousands on this tour who will never return) or even the value of broadcast deals. But nothing changes: England’s schedule for 2019-20 (they play Test series in New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka) isn’t just arduous, it is bordering on the immoral.

The plans are coming together

While England used this ODI series to take a look at a couple of fringe players, it is increasingly easy to predict their side for their opening World Cup fixture. That’s just as well: they play just one more ODI series – in the Caribbean – before they have to name their World Cup squad. So while the likes of Sam Curran and Sam Billings might yet be considered as replacements in case of injury, there are now only one or two places left to confirmed in the 15-man party. Given no surprises with the pitch, fitness or the conditions, England will probably field this XI against South Africa at The Oval on May 30: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, David Willey and Liam Plunkett. With Alex Hales, Mark Wood, Tom Curran and one other – perhaps Olly Stone or Liam Dawson – in reserve. In a format where role definition is so important, that level of certainty bodes well for England.

For a good side – and England have proved themselves a really good ODI side over the last couple of years – England still have it in them to produce the odd absolutely stinking performance. For as excellent as they have been in recent months, it is worth remembering they were beaten by Scotland in June and conceded their largest ODI defeat in history in terms of runs (albeit via the DLS method) on Tuesday against a modest Sri Lanka side. The 2017 defeat against South Africa at Lord’s – England were 20 for 6 within about half-an-hour in that match – wasn’t especially clever, either. That’s a bit of a worry because, while teams may be able to cope with one bad day in the early rounds of a World Cup, they can’t afford one in the knock-out stages.

People will moan

Jonny Bairstow’s ankle injury revived the moans about England playing football as part of their warm-up routine. Never mind that Bairstow simply slipped on damp grass – an injury that could have occurred had he been fielding – it encouraged the usual voices to bemoan the practice as if it were akin to knife throwing or shark wrestling. It is true there have been some notable injuries sustained by cricketers playing football over the years, but there have also been injuries sustained by stretching, running and going to the gym. To some extent, these things happen. The current squad enjoy the football, do not tackle, and find it both unites them and is good for their overall fitness. With the squad together for approaching 300 days a year, it is impractical and unhelpful to suggest they are so risk averse that they avoid such things. The resurgence of this team has largely come about through a shared enjoyment in what they do. Let’s not crush it out of them.

Starting with the steady envelopment of Azhar Ali, it was the sort of spell occasionally delivered by great bowlers at moments of import

Daniel Brettig in Abu Dhabi16-Oct-2018Late in the day, a Pakistani batsman leaned forward and larruped Nathan Lyon into the seats beyond wide long-on.In a way, this was an action replay of Lyon’s last visit for a Test match in Abu Dhabi, when he was bullied by Misbah-ul-Haq during Australia’s second consecutive hiding in 2014. Closer inspection revealed how much things had in fact changed – the batsman was Mohammad Abbas, Pakistan’s last man, and next to Lyon’s name were four top-order wickets, all taken in a breathless six balls before lunch that may well have decided this match. Australia, seeking a first series win in Asia since 2011, have the foothold they need.

‘Never take your foot off the throat in Test cricket’

Nathan Lyon has conceded Australia’s young team may have taken their “foot off the throat” of Pakistan after he was instrumental in sliding Sarfraz Ahmed’s men to 57 for 5 before lunch. The hosts recovered to 282, before nipping out two early wickets before the close of play.
“If you look at that middle session, or even 10 minutes before lunch, when they were [57 for 5], I think we may have sat back and thought ‘it’ll just happen’,” Lyon said. “But it’s Test cricket for a reason. You play an international, you’re playing against some of the best guys in the world, they’re not just going to roll over.
“I think it’s a good little learning curve for the Australian cricket side, especially a young Australian cricket side, that you can never take your foot off the throat in Test cricket, there’s always someone who’s going to put up a fight. If you take the foot off, you can see those partnerships build up, but then again you’ve got to give credit where credit’s due, I think the way they played around and rotated the strike, wouldn’t let one bowler bowl to one batter for one period of a time was a perfect approach.

How they got there was partly freakish, given the opening “catch” by Marnus Labuschagne, in which he may have set a new world record for most body parts utilised in keeping the ball from touching the ground. Australia also benefited from Labuschagne’s burgeoning legbreaks, heavy with topspin and delivered with rhythm and momentum as much that of a slow medium-pace bowler as a spinner.But the day’s critical passage, on a pitch offering the merest glimmer of early assistance for bowlers of fast and slow varieties, belonged completely to Lyon. Starting with the steady envelopment of Azhar Ali, it was the sort of spell occasionally delivered by great bowlers at moments of import, whether by Shane Warne on numerous occasions for Australia, or James Anderson on one memorable morning for England eight years ago, as Lyon sat on the roller at the Adelaide Oval while still a groundsman.On that occasion, the Adelaide Oval’s pitch looked ideal for batting, with the promise that a fraction of life might be found in the initial passages. Benefiting from the freakish early run-out of Simon Katich, Anderson duly put the ball in exactly the right place to find edges from Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke in consecutive overs, leaving Australia 3 for 1 and writing the script for the rest of the match. Despite the best efforts of Michael Hussey, Australia’s tally was inadequate, England’s was mighty, as the tourists won by an innings.There was, however vaguely, a shade of Adelaide’s pitch about this one in Abu Dhabi, with its sparse but unmistakable coverage of grass amid a dryness that should offer plenty to spinners later in the game. Lyon later assessed it as possessing a softness under foot and and moisture that allowed for “purchase”, and Mitchell Starc was certainly able to make the new ball jump in ways he had not in Dubai, despite clearly remaining stiff and sore from the first Test. But it appeared that Azhar and Fakhar Zaman had made a sure enough start before Lyon entered the fray.His first 18 balls, 12 to Azhar and six to Fakhar, did not concede a single run, as Lyon sized up the pace and bounce on offer from the pitch. So often in Asia he has resorted to what he calls “bowling ugly”, in terms of abandoning the flight and overspin of his Australian ways and seeking sharper side spin, variation in pace and relentless accuracy to trap batsmen on the crease. Here, however, he gradually opened up his traditional method, “spinning up the back of the ball” in his words, to drag a batsman forward with flight, then beat him with drop, turn and bounce.”When the wicket’s like that I have to stick to my strengths and my strength is spinning up the back of the ball and bowling like I would at home,” Lyon said. “I definitely went back to bowling like I would in Australia. Personally, that’s just about adapting and using the facilities and what you’re dealt with to your advantage. I was pretty happy with the way the ball came out.”I’m a massive one, especially here in the subcontinent, to bowl in partnerships, build pressure and try and go under two runs an over. I’ve said it over and over in time and that’s one of our things as a bowling group we try and focus on, especially after losing the toss and bowling first on a day one wicket. You have to bowl tight, bowl in partnerships and build pressure, the old-fashioned way. There’s no secrets to it.”Nathan Lyon’s 5-4-4-4 burst before lunch flattened Pakistan on day one•ESPNcricinfo LtdRecognising when and how to bowl in certain ways is a skill as intrinsic to spin as the co-ordination to get the ball down the other end in the right fashion, and the torque to get it humming through the air and fizzing off the pitch. It’s something Warne learned at the feet of Terry Jenner in Adelaide in the early 1990s, as he has related in his book, .”‘Shane, you bowl nicely and rip your leg-spinners, you bowl your wrong ‘uns and your straight ones and you’ve got an unbelievable fipper’,” Warne recalled Jenner saying. “‘You can also catch well and bat too. You’ve got the toys, mate, but you don’t know how to use them. In other words, you don’t know how to get people out.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ ‘You need to learn what, when and why.’ ‘I don’t understand.’ ‘What you are bowling, when you are bowling it and why you are bowling it’.” What Lyon produced was a masterpiece of these dimensions.Azhar, out of sorts in Dubai, was gradually reeled in, to the point that he tried a drive at a ball he could not get to the pitch of and dragged back down the pitch for Lyon to take a return catch. As a miniature spell it was mesmerising, and clearly not just to those watching on TV or in the stands. The incoming batsman, Haris Sohail, was beaten by the same drop, the same bounce, propping forward and offering a catch off the splice that silly point Travis Head took expertly. Two in two!On a hat-trick at the end of the over, Lyon waited six balls and then delivered another perfectly-pitched offbreak that Asad Shafiq narrowly kept out with the inside half of the bat. Next ball was slightly straighter, slightly shorter, and again finding the length that Shafiq propped just short of. The inside edge onto the pad was not picked up until DRS was called upon, but its spike on Ultra Edge was as clear as the Australians’ glee. Four Pakistani victims before lunch on day one were untold riches for a team that slogged through two wicketless sessions on day one in Dubai. But there was more to come.Babar Azam, often the aggressor, is the sort of No. 6 who capitalises on the studied efforts of his colleagues up the order. Confronted by the prospect of Lyon flighting and spinning the ball in the first session of the match, with trouble all around him, he was unable to constrain these usual instincts. For Lyon, this offered the chance of the kind of dismissal offspinners dream of – the ball through the gate between bat and pad.”When we talk about building pressure and being able to cope under pressure, that’s one example,” Lyon said. “But to be honest, without blowing my own trumpet, that’s a pretty good offspinning ball. To actually do a guy in the air, but to also spin it through the gate, and hit the top of the stumps, that’s my view of it. Some people may disagree, but I was pretty happy with it.”Haris Sohail is beaten by Nathan Lyon’s turn and bounce•Getty ImagesThe first time Lyon had done this, against New Zealand at the Gabba in 2011, his quarry had been the most modest possible in Chris Martin. Seven years on, Babar was lured down, beaten by dip and turn, and might have been stumped by Tim Paine had the ball not clipped the top of the leg stump. Test match pressure had met the classical skill, and the fifth wicket was down. In the stands, Mickey Arthur held his head in his hands. While Fakhar and Sarfraz Ahmed would mount a rearguard action, Lyon was the day’s headliner, for these wickets had not only flummoxed Pakistan but also left him behind only Dennis Lillee, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne on Australia’s all-time list.”I’ve never been one for personal success and personal goals. Or at least talking about them,” Lyon said. “But it’s a massive honour to pass the likes of Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson today. I have played a lot of cricket with Mitch and he’s been like a big brother to me so I know there will be a bit of banter back and forth tonight and a few text messages and stuff. So I look forward to that.”I’ve been very fortunate to play 80 Test matches for Australia and to be in this position to take 314 wickets, personally it’s a great achievement and it’s something I will look back when I retire from the game and sit back with family and friends and have a beer and talk about it. I know my mum and dad will be pretty proud. But, right now it’s about me doing my best for the Australian cricket team and winning Test matches.”This Test match is still a long way from being won, particularly after two Australian wickets fell in Abu Dhabi’s late afternoon light – the game scenario is reminiscent of a pair of recent Asian defeats, in Dhaka against Bangladesh in 2017, and in Kandy against Sri Lanka the year before. Nevertheless, the game is far more open than on the corresponding day a week ago, and it was Lyon above all others who opened it. Just as the second Test has so much more to offer, so too Lyon’s career.

It is typical of cricket to vilify a bowler’s actions despite having behaved within the laws of the game

Sidharth Monga28-Mar-20191:12

Ashwin’s brush with mankading over the years

It says a lot about cricket that more noise has been made around the spirit of cricket than the actual legality of R Ashwin’s run-out of Jos Buttler, despite this being a rare instance where such a run-out could be questioned under the laws of the game.The decision after deliberation should still be out, but this was a case where the law provides a bigger defence for the batsman than the spirit. Yet again, though, a bowler is being vilified for merely asking for the law to be enforced.That is not to say the spirit of cricket is absolutely bogus. If a pair of batsmen, for example, starts to manipulate scoring to allow one of them to get to a century in a small chase, you can see why some might see it as a disrespect to the opposition: “We are not only beating you, we can also afford to turn down runs while we do so.”There could be a case made for not running out a batsman who has stumbled and fallen in the middle of the pitch.In a way it is good that it is left as a matter of personal preference. It reveals human nature: a player known for following the spirit might not do so in the final over of a tight match. Either way, it should not be for us to vilify those who don’t follow what our perception of the spirit of cricket is.Never forget this is a sport that celebrates practices that are much more unethical. Bullying, by way of verbal abuse, of players identified as mentally weak is but one. Appealing when you clearly know the batsman is not out is an attempt to capitalise on an umpire’s weakness and fallibility. There is a way to justify it to yourself: even if we don’t do it, the opposition won’t stop, and our team will be at a disadvantage.But this run-out is the rarest of rare, not just as a dismissal but as a case study. The problem on this occasion is that the spirit is in direct conflict with the laws. Ever since the run-out, it is Ashwin who has been rebuked and asked to explain himself, whereas Buttler’s contravention of the law is taken for granted.People have two categories of problems with this dismissal. First is pure sanctimony – and it comes from past, present and future greats too – wherein it is unethical to ever run out a batsman stealing ground. Some of this bunch prescribe one or two warnings before any bowler can even consider attempting a run-out in such a fashion.Jos Buttler and R Ashwin have an exchange after the mankading incident•AFPPeople are bound to be confused. Why is it okay to appeal when you know the batsman is not out but such a grave crime to punish the batsman for straying from his crease before the ball has been delivered? There is another argument that this dismissal doesn’t involve skill, and is thus not earned. How about sharpness and game awareness? How about making the batsman earn the whole run and not steal a part of it?Cricket is not too unlike human society. It is played by highly skilled, disciplined and driven individuals, but within it, just like the larger society, there exist opportunists and also those who strive to snub this opportunism with further opportunism. Why expect more of a player than what is required by law? And why ask only the bowlers to uphold the spirit of cricket?Just because batsmen have been wandering out of their crease all this while, that doesn’t negate the fact that they have been gaining crucial feet or yards, and are thus themselves acting against this beast called the spirit of cricket. This is a great opportunity for cricket to become less elite, and rid the bowler of this burden.The other problem lies exclusively with this particular run-out. It is said – even by MCC now – that Ashwin is in contravention of spirit of cricket because he waited too long. It was a complex enough decision under the law anyway. In 2017, MCC issued an amendment to law 41, which deals with unfair play (a subtitle which clearly implies it is the batsman who is indulging in unfair activity). The law now allows the bowler to attempt to run the non-striker out from “the moment the ball comes into play to the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball”.A chain of events here is important. Six years before MCC formalised this as a law, the ICC had taken the lead and overwritten this rule in its own playing conditions by allowing a bowler to attempt the run-out “before releasing the ball, and provided he has not completed his usual delivery swing”. In 2017, the MCC update changed the law to align it with the ICC Playing Regulations, and so the ambiguity was codified.Had Ashwin done this before 2017, there would be no debate over the legality of this run-out. As it happened, in this case, the third umpire found himself making a call on whether Buttler would still have been inside the crease when Ashwin would normally have been expected to release the ball. How do you go about estimating the expected normal release of the ball when Ashwin’s arm didn’t even begin to go up?This is where Fraser Stewart, the laws manager of MCC, has told ESPNcricinfo that Ashwin paused for too long, thus indulging in entrapment. Stewart is a much-respected voice when it comes to laws of cricket. The MCC’s laws might seem verbose to some, but they are an elegant piece of work. In this case, both might be muddled.Stewart says the law was changed – from any time before the release to the new “expected” release – to allow the non-strikers to focus on the strikers who are smashing back balls harder than ever. What about the umpires then? They don’t have helmets, they are not even as agile as non-strikers, and they are looking at the bowler’s foot and then looking up at the batsman.And why can’t the non-striker look at the striker from the crease? And, most importantly, why leave at a disadvantage those batsmen who actually follow the law and watch the bowler releasing the ball before leaving the crease?It is an extremely slippery slope to chastise Ashwin for his intent here. It would be extremely harsh to surmise that Ashwin cynically waited for the batsman to leave the crease. It literally happened within a second. There is just one second between his back foot landing and the bail coming off. Don’t forget that a lot of clips you are seeing are slow-motion replays, slowed down to expand this action to five seconds. Buttler is out of his crease for three of those expanded seconds. Even DRS doesn’t have the predictive path to tell you if Ashwin would have “normally released” the ball in that 40 percent of a second.

Isn’t the central point of this sport that bowlers have to outwit batsmen within the laws of the game?

It is even more unfair to blame a bowler for premeditation, even though Ashwin has asserted twice that he did this instinctively. This makes the dismissal even more rare. For such run-outs are usually not carried out without a degree of premeditation. This was, for example, the 23rd ball Ashwin had bowled on the night. Minutes after the match, ESPNcricinfo saw the highlights and saw Buttler had been out of his crease before Ashwin had delivered the ball that bowled Ajinkya Rahane, the seventh ball of his spell. A tweet next morning showed at least three other instances of Buttler straying out of his ground before Ashwin had released the ball.Ashwin bowled 11 balls with Buttler at the non-striker’s end, and on at least four occasions Buttler was seen stealing ground. There’s no point in vilifying the batsmen for doing this. They are, after all, trying to take every last advantage to help their side win, but with their decisions come risks and consequences, and they should be prepared to face them – as in fact Buttler himself had done once already, in an ODI against Sri Lanka in 2014.However, by questioning Ashwin’s spirit in this case, Stewart has undermined MCC’s own stated goal to “further confirm the principle” that “it is the non-striker’s duty to remain in his/her ground until the bowler has released the ball”. Ashwin did not release the ball. The ball was still in play. If the law continues to be ambiguous, the ICC should perhaps consider going reverting to its own playing condition.The other problem with this spirit handwringing here is that cricket outside the international fixtures is played with no replays; umpires make instant decisions on the maidans and village greens. Those umpires are in no position to judge if the pause is too long.For the sake of argument, let’s take the leap and agree that Ashwin used it as a tactic. He has long been a proponent of showing the batsman his limits. He is playing at a time when pitches and bats and playing conditions have threatened his very existence in limited-overs cricket. Possibly he has had enough of batsmen getting off strike even after a good ball because the non-striker has been stealing ground. So what if he decided to counter an unfair practice with a practice that is legit but just not used often? Isn’t the central point of this sport that bowlers have to outwit batsmen within the laws of the game?Fears that a deterrent could end up becoming a tactical tool to entrap batsmen are not entirely unjustified. It could lead to bowlers farcically pausing in their delivery strides to wait for the non-striker to slide over so they can run him out. Well, boo hoo. Just watch the bowler release the ball before backing up. Watch it for yourself, don’t rely on a projection of the normal release of the ball. It’s not that hard. What’s more, it might give you a tip or two on picking the ball from the hand. If Ashwin’s action brings about this revolutionary change in our attitudes, it will be one of the big turning points in our sport. It will not be a moment too soon.

When Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill score at least 75 between them, the team wins 64.71% of their matches. But when they don’t, they win only 26.32%

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Taunton07-Jun-20193:44

Mills: Ferguson is bowling fast and with control, which is a dangerous combination

Ross Taylor, ranked third in the world among ODI batsmen, averages a monstrous 71.31 since the start of 2017, and has scores of 82, 69 and 93 from his last four completed innings. Martin Guptill, ninth in the world, averaging more than 50 since 2017, has two hundreds in his last five outings, and the biggest ever World Cup score. Kane Williamson, 13th, hasn’t been quite as prolific in the last two years, but still averages 43.35, and arguably has the most solid reputation of them all.But what about the batsmen that come afterwards? Tom Latham, James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme and Mitchell Santner have serviceable averages through the same period, ranging between the high-twenties and mid-thirties. But in the context of a World Cup in which the best teams have the likes of Jos Buttler, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav and Ben Stokes operating through the last 15 or so overs in an innings, does this constitute if not a bona-fide weakness, then the makings of one?In fairness, it is not often that New Zealand’s three best batsmen fail collectively – they have played 89 matches together, and in only 19 have Guptill, Taylor and Williamson not managed 75 runs between them. And yet, the team’s performance on those occasions drops substantially. As opposed to an average score of 289, they muster only 214 when the Big Three produce less than 75. More importantly, the win percentage suffers. New Zealand 64.71% when at least one of their best batsman are rocking it; 26.32% when all three are not.The issue, of course, is only really in focus in light of the mini-collapse against Bangladesh. They had been cruising to the target of 245 at 191 for 4, before the wicket of top-scorer Ross Taylor prompted a stutter. They lost four wickets for 47 runs through that period, before eventually, Santner’s 17 off 12 balls took them home. No. 10 Lockie Ferguson was still forced to bat out three deliveries in what had suddenly become a tense finish, however.Getty Images”I think, if we’re honest with ourselves, if you look back at the Bangladesh game, and the position we’re in – we probably should have been walking off with a six-wicket win or something like that,” coach Gary Stead said of that match. “But strange things can happen in cricket. And I’m just thankful we were on the right side of it and got the two points.”Perhaps New Zealand feel the reintroduction of Henry Nicholls, now fit, could stabilise the middle order as well, though there is also a chance he may be deployed as an opener. “Henry’s one guy that we think can cover different bases for us,” Stead said. “We’ve got part of the squad that was selected is making sure that we’ve got people that we can pull in and out at different positions. That will depend on what we think is the right balance, against different opposition on the grounds.”It would seem unlikely that Afghanistan possess the weapons to expose New Zealand at Taunton, particularly on what will likely be a green-tinged surface. Those with local knowledge suggest that grass on the pitch does not necessarily mean anything, given the ground’s reputation as one of the higher-scoring county venues in the country. But what this surface may do is partially neutralise Afghanistan’s foremost threat: spin bowling. If Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi don’t have a lot of turn to work with, it seems unlikely they will take down New Zealand’s Big Three, let alone successfully target that lower middle order.And yet, New Zealand might love for Nos. 5 to 8 to have the kind of workout that would put minds at ease following the Bangladesh experience. They are yet to face the likes of Mitchell Starc, or Jasprit Bumrah and the India wristspin duo. As the tournament heats up, they, like everyone in serious contention for those semi-final spots, are all looking to move to the pointy end with as few doubts as possible.