In his first World Cup game and his seventh ODI, Saud Shakeel’s clarity and calmness rescued Pakistan after top-order failure

Shashank Kishore06-Oct-2023Until recently – that is, until very recently – Saud Shakeel was perceived to be a one-format batter. He had cracked Tests, but on Friday in Hyderabad, he walked in to bat with Pakistan tottering at 38 for 3 in their World Cup opening game, which was only his seventh ODI. It’s far from the ideal scenario he had hoped to have come in at.Yet, it was an opportunity to prove his batting chops by walking the tightrope. Counterpunching isn’t part of most batting DNAs in such situations, most definitely not if you are on World Cup debut. This is why Shakeel’s knock, a stroke-filled 52-ball 68, was refreshing.At 28, he would know the challenges late bloomers like him face – for one, fewer chances of comebacks if you mess up. To recalibrate to the demands of his role in such a high-stakes environment spoke volumes about his clarity and calmness.Related

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As a batter, Shakeel has made waves in red-ball cricket – a Test average of 87.14 across 13 innings is testimony to that. But with his team in choppy waters against Netherlands, the only Associate nation in the competition, he wasn’t going to ride on past glory.Until early August, Shakeel wasn’t even in the mix for an ODI middle-order slot. The first inkling of him being in the fray came during the ODIs against Afghanistan. He managed all of one innings in that series, but Pakistan captain Babar Azam spoke glowingly of his game against spin. Those words may have seemed a mere consolation for Shakeel when he discovered Tayyab Tahir had leapfrogged him for the Asia Cup squad, but that was all soon to change.Tayyab hadn’t done much wrong; he was riding a wave of confidence following a match-winning century against India in the final of the ACC Emerging Cup, but a new selection panel saw things slightly differently. And just like that, Shakeel had his opening at the Asia Cup when he was drafted in late. Against Netherlands, he proved why that call has the potential to become a masterstroke.Pre-match routines either reveal a lot or give away precious little. Shakeel’s on Thursday was an education in conditions-specific training. He had a long stint in the nets and had more of it 30 minutes before toss, slogging it out in the outdoor area, imploring the coaches to give him more and more throw downs.Shakeel was seemingly working on his backlift, which looked to be coming from way over his left shoulder. The attempt was to try and minimise the bat swing. Or at least, that’s what it seemed like from afar, through barricades and a green cloth.Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan resurrected Pakistan after three quick wickets•Associated PressMuscle memory can be a funny thing, though, and you can slip back into your comfort zone under pressure. And at 38 for 3, the heat was on.The second delivery he faced, this high backlift troubled Shakeel again. He was late on the ball as an edge off Paul van Meekeren flew over the vacant gully region. Off his eighth ball, Shakeel edged another as he came down late on the ball that skidded through and flew low to Vikramjit Singh’s right at slip. As a batter, these are the dollops of luck that can easily go against you. Here, it was with Shakeel and how.It felt like a real test of the ‘Pakistan way’ that Mickey Arthur and Grant Bradburn have been very vocal about. The team has bought into the concept, but there wasn’t even an inkling of it yet because of the massive hole they were in. But without taking too many risks, and purely playing to the fields and putting away loose deliveries, Mohammad Rizwan and Shakeel brought up the half-century off the partnership off just 51 balls.Shakeel’s brain was ticking. Every over against spin, he carefully surveyed fields. In the 21st, even before left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe had bowled, Shakeel spotted an extra fielder outside the 30-yard circle. As he stepped out and chipped him into the vacant spaces to pick up a boundary at deep midwicket, Shakeel wildly waved to get the umpire’s attention about the extra fielder. It was indeed a no-ball, and he walloped the free-hit for six, expertly using the depth of his crease to pull.Pakistan were beginning to hit top gear, much of it down to the enterprise Shakeel showed along with Rizwan, who batted with sage-like calm, aware of the risks a wrong choice of shot brought at that stage, but still ticking along swiftly.This had a deflating effect on Netherlands. Their body language went a bit flat, the high-fives for regulation stops disappeared, and there was a sameness to proceedings. There was no bigger sign than this that Pakistan hadn’t just wriggled out of the bore pit, but had begun closing it in too.Shakeel soon raised his half-century off 32 balls in an over where he carted Vikramjit for two straight boundaries. This was naked aggression at its very best; an assault so precise that it didn’t feel like one. It was pure instinct-driven batting married with timing out of the top drawer.The century of the partnership was soon up, even as Rizwan coolly slipped into the role he’s so adept at. This was further validation of why the No. 4 spot, which Pakistan had seemingly been struggling with, should firmly now be set in stone for the immediate future.The partnership did two things. It undid the damage at the top and gave them a bit of cushion for the lower order, if there was a late collapse, which we went on to witness. That cushion helped Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan play themselves in before steering Pakistan to a total that eventually proved well beyond reach for a spirited Netherlands side. To make 286 from 188 for 6 was yet another exhibition of why teams yearn for this kind of batting depth in ODIs, for it allows them to keep going.At three down, as a Pakistan fan, you would have perhaps been praying hard for a Shaheen Afridi special or thunderbolts from Haris Rauf, which were amply on display under the night sky. However, the genesis of this win lay in how a nerveless Shakeel steered clear of the chaos and delivered the punch that will make Arthur very, very happy.You didn’t need more evidence of there being more to Pakistan’s batting than just Babar and Rizwan.

Also keep an eye out for a left-arm seamer named Johnson, and the BBL’s Player of the Tournament

Andrew McGlashan07-Aug-20232:25

George Bailey: Ideal world would have two captains, not three

Aaron Hardie (T20I and ODI squad)Mitchell Marsh, Cameron Green and now Aaron Hardie. Australia are being well served by allrounders from Western Australia. Hardie has pushed his claims strongly with red and white ball. Initially it was in four-day cricket where he caught the attention, hitting an unbeaten 174 in the 2021-22 Sheffield Shield final against Victoria to steer Western Australia to the title.Although he struggled to quite hit those heights last summer, he struck a century for Australia A against New Zealand in April. However, he also had a breakout campaign in the BBL for Perth Scorchers where he was the tournament’s leading run-scorer having found a new home at No. 3. His pace bowling is useful with a first-class average under 30.Related

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“One of the silver linings of not being able to bowl much in last year’s Big Bash was it allowed him the opportunity to bat up the order,” chair of selectors George Bailey said. “We saw how destructive he was batting a three for the Scorchers – and think he’s batted everywhere from three to seven – [and] he’s got some good power. So whether that role is in finishing off an innings with his power hitting or he does get an opportunity a little higher up the order, we’ll see.”We make no secret of the fact we like our one-day team to have a number of guys who can bat in the top seven who can bowl some overs. It gives you the ability to structure up differently.”Spencer Johnson (T20 squad)Time for another Australian left-arm quick named Johnson? Twenty-seven-year-old Spencer Johnson is one of the most fascinating stories currently in the game. He has enjoyed a rapid rise up the pecking order after impressing for Brisbane Heat in his first full BBL season where his ability at the death stood out, holding his nerve in consecutive games against Hobart Hurricanes and Melbourne Stars. He then claimed his best figures of 3 for 28 in the Challenger against Sydney Sixers. He rounded out the season with impressive returns for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield and went on the A tour to New Zealand.That all came after battling a recurring stress fracture in his foot, which first occurred on his debut for South Australia in 2017, and left him fighting for his professional career. “It was just such a rare bone to get a stress fracture in,” he told ESPNcricinfo earlier this year. “There was no evidence that [surgery] would work but after 12 months of it not healing, it was the only option to try and put in a couple of screws.”He is viewed as a potential replacement for Mitchell Starc when he begins to wind up his white-ball career after the ODI and T20 World Cups, and there could be more beyond that. “Spencer is on the radar for all formats, he’s a pretty exciting talent,” Bailey said. “There’s some genuine pace there, a pretty handy skillset in being able to swing the ball. It is always nice when you have someone bowling left-arm, it’s just a little bit different and can add some real variety to your attack.”First and foremost we’ll get a really good look at him in the T20 series, which is probably the format he’s played the most. But the little bit we’ve seen of him in one-day cricket and even four-day cricket, we like that skillset as well, so he’s one we are keen to invest a bit of time into.”Tanveer Sangha, despite having just five List A matches to his name, could very well make Australia’s World Cup squad•Getty ImagesTanveer Sangha (ODI squad) It is close to a year since Tanveer Sangha, the 21-year-old legspinner, last played cricket. He missed the entire 2022-23 Australian domestic season with a stress fracture of his back, but the Australia selectors have certainly not forgotten him. To the extent that he is only a couple of selection calls away from making the final ODI World Cup squad despite having just five List A matches to his name.When fit, Sangha has put his name up in lights in the BBL for Sydney Thunder with a 21-wicket haul in 2020-21 earning him a place on a T20 tour of New Zealand. He followed that with a further 16 wickets in the 2021-22 BBL before his injury-enforced layoff.”He’s been on our radar for a long time,” Bailey said. “His Big Bash form when he’s been fit has been excellent so he’s one that we are really impressed with. The common comment around Tanveer is that is he’s very mature on the field and a great thinker about how he goes about it. He had an unfortunate injury last year which meant he lost a bit of a game-time but the age he is, and the skillset he has, I don’t think that’s going to set him back much.”Matthew Short notched up a 50-ball 80 recently for Washington Freedom in MLC•BCCIMatthew Short (T20 squad)Matthew Short was the BBL’s Player of the Tournament last season after scoring 458 runs and taking 11 wickets for Adelaide Strikers, backing up a 2021-22 campaign where he had made 493 runs. His standout performance came against Hobart Hurricanes where his unbeaten 100 from 59 balls carried Strikers to a record chase of 230.On the back of those returns, Short was picked up as a replacement player by Punjab Kings in the IPL although he found the going tougher with 117 runs in six innings. However, he recently made 80 off 50 balls playing for Washington Freedom in MLC and on Sunday struck 73 off 36 balls for Northern Superchargers in the Hundred.With David Warner and Cameron Green, who were Australia’s previous T20 opening pair last November, rested for the South Africa tour, and Aaron Finch retired, Short has a strong chance of finding himself alongside Steven Smith at the top of the order. With Adam Zampa the only frontline spinner, Short’s offspin will also likely be called on. He has often bowled with the new ball in the BBL.

Stellar contribution with the bat underlines allrounder status as Invincibles seal deserved title

Matt Roller27-Aug-2023Oval Invincibles had five days to prepare for the Hundred final after the group stage. Naturally, players and staff considered scenarios that might emerge at Lord’s on Sunday night; even the most downbeat among them would not have contemplated being 34 for 5 after 36 balls.The new white ball swung in the air under lights, and nipped around off the seam. Jason Roy, Paul Stirling and Sam Curran all fell in the powerplay for a combined five runs; Sam Billings was strangled down the leg side, and Will Jacks was caught in the deep. In their first men’s final, Invincibles were on course for their lowest-ever total.But when Tom Curran walked out to join James Neesham, the game changed. Along with Roy, the Curran brothers were two of Invincibles’ first three signings back in 2019 as head coach Tom Moody looked to build the core of their side; four years and three seasons later, that investment in two young allrounders has paid dividends.Related

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Curran’s partnership with Neesham was worth an unbroken 127 in 65 balls, the highest in the Hundred. Ross Whiteley, who played a vital cameo for Southern Brave in the inaugural men’s final two years ago, sat in the dugout anticipating a rescue job from No. 8, and ended up taking his pads off with a ball remaining.Many sides would have looked to consolidate, scrapping up to a below-par total in the region of 120-130 that would doubtless have proved insufficient against Manchester Originals’ batting line-up. But Curran and Neesham played with the clarity and intent of frontline batters. “The most impressive thing,” Billings said, “was that it wasn’t manufactured.”Neesham got things moving, slicing Zaman Khan for four off a free hit before belting him through midwicket to move into double figures. But it was Curran who dominated, scoring on both sides of the wicket: he was vicious on the pull, but his best shot was an uppercut off Josh Little that flew over point for six to bring up a 26-ball half-century.Curran’s innings – 67 not out from 34 balls – was the highest score by any batter at No. 7 or below in a T20 final, surpassing MS Dhoni’s previous record of 63 not out when he drilled the last ball of the innings over Zaman’s head for a straight six.”It wasn’t like, ‘I’m going to take it down now.’ Tom played some shots that you can’t premeditate: he was playing on instinct,” Billings said. “The simplicity with which he goes about it and the areas which he hits make him so difficult for people to bowl at. It was just effortless, really.”Billings was in the middle with Curran six days ago, sharing an unbeaten partnership of 50 off 27 balls to clinch Invincibles’ spot at Lord’s, and believes that he is at his best in such situations: “He was pretty pumped up. When he gets those glazed eyes and he’s swearing at himself, that’s a positive thing.”Tom Curran made his first Hundred fifty•PA Photos/Getty ImagesIn the two years since his most recent appearance for England, Curran has suffered two stress fractures and quit red-ball cricket, which he described as “the right decision for my body and my mental health”. It did not come as a major surprise, but was still notable: five years after playing two Ashes Tests, he had become a white-ball specialist.Curran played for Surrey’s T20 side as a specialist batter, making 229 runs from the middle order including a 33-ball half-century from No. 4 against Middlesex at Lord’s. He only reached bowling fitness on Finals Day, going wicketless as Surrey fell short in the semi-finals, and had a short trip to Zimbabwe between the Blast and the Hundred to continue his rehab – and visit family – while playing T10 cricket.In this tournament, he has been a revelation. Against Welsh Fire, he rescued a point with 38 not out off 18 balls, sealing a tie with a dive so desperate, it caused him to miss four games with an injured shoulder. On his return, he turned 90 for 7 into 139 for 7 against Southern Brave, hitting 43 not out off 28 balls before taking three wickets in a successful defence.He finished the Hundred season with 175 runs off 99 balls across five innings, and was only dismissed once. A terse Jos Buttler declined to reveal if Curran had been in the selection mix for England’s upcoming T20Is against New Zealand after the final, but he will make do with a Hundred winner’s medal for the time being.Curran has had to evolve with the ball. His trademark used to be the back-of-the-hand slower ball but batters gradually worked out how to play it, setting themselves for the change-up and reacting when he went pace-on. As Billings explained: “He had a lot of success with that, but he doesn’t use it as much anymore.”He consistently develops his skills: he has one where he goes down the back side of the ball, and a knuckleball that he’s developed as well. He’s been phenomenal in those hard phases: he’s bowled the fifth over of the Powerplay, and got a key wicket tonight in Phil Salt… I can’t really speak highly enough of him.”The Curran brothers have epitomised Invincibles’ versatility and adaptability across the three seasons of the Hundred: they finished this season with only two of the top ten wicket-takers, and one of the top ten run-scorers, but overcame the absence of a number of first-choice players thanks to a strong local core.Simon Katich, Originals’ head coach, said that Invincibles had been the best men’s team in the Hundred and their overall win-loss record reflects as much: 15 wins and only eight defeats in three seasons. They did not quite live up to their moniker this year, with one loss in nine completed games, but few would begrudge Invincibles their trophy.

A home ODI series against India will begin their prep for the Champions Trophy in 2025

Firdose Moonda16-Dec-2023ODIs fade into the wings of the international cricket stage for at least the next six months, with focus shifting to the T20 World Cup, but a Champions Trophy is only 15 months away and some of the early planning starts now. Most teams are likely to see significant changes from the squads that did duty at this year’s World Cup and will use 2024 to usher in a new generation of players, as India are doing in South Africa this week.Only three – KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Kuldeep Yadav – of the 15 member squad that reached the World Cup final are here to take part in the 50-overs leg. “They can almost field three different sides and really compete with the best in the world,” South Africa’s stand-in captain Aiden Markram said. For their part, South Africa have chosen a slower transition and retained nine of their World Cup squad. But, they have big gaps to fill, specifically in the opening batter and the allrounders’ spots and those are the positions that will be in the spotlight over the next week. This is who to keep an eye on:

Tony de Zorzi

With Quinton de Kock retired from ODIs and regular captain Temba Bavuma rested from this series, de Zorzi has an opportunity to establish himself as an opener for the future. He has done the job once before, against West Indies earlier in the year, and regularly for his domestic team, Western Province. In this year’s one-day cup, de Zorzi was the seventh-highest run-scorer, and had a higher strike rate than four of the batters above him. Markram is looking forward to a “nice positive brand of cricket from his side,” and confirmed de Zorzi will partner Reeza Hendricks at the top. “He seems excited about it, and the coach seems excited about it. We enjoyed what we saw from Tony earlier in the year and this is another opportunity for him to express himself.”

Andile Phehlukwayo

With 77 ODI caps to his name, Phehlukwayo is hardly a newbie but in a year that started with him being dropped from the national side and losing his central contract, this is a second coming. Phehlukwayo was given another chance when Sisanda Magala was ruled out of the World Cup squad with a knee injury and though he only played one match at the tournament, he has since found his way back into both white-ball squads and with big tournaments aplenty, could yet become South Africa’s go-to allrounder. Phehlukwayo has ability with both bat and ball and at 27 years old, is showing the maturity South Africa hoped would come into his game. “He sees himself now as not a young guy in the team anymore, but as a guy with a bit more responsibility and I think he has taken on that responsibility really well,” Markram said. “He has finished games with the bat, he has bowled some crucial spells in the middle overs with the ball and it is exciting to have him playing that sort of cricket and putting his hand up.”

Wiaan Mulder

A competitor for Phehlukwayo’s place in the team, Mulder has not played white-ball cricket for South Africa in more than two years but is now being considered across all formats. He has gained experience overseas, and played an important role in Leicester reaching the one-day cup final earlier this year and then winning the cup. Mulder’s struggles in the past has been lack of consistency, in opportunity and performances, and South Africa may give him the full series to try and change that.

Mihlali Mpongwana

The only uncapped player in the squad forced his way to selection with strong performances in domestic cricket. He was the joint-third-highest wicket-taker in the provincial one-day tournament and scored a century for Western Province in the final and, at 23 years old, seems an excellent prospect. He was part of the South Africa A squad that played first-class matches against West Indies in November and December and while he may have to wait to his turn for a chance in this series, so far, his team-mates are impressed with what they’ve seen. “He is a young guy and he thinks about the game in a great way,” Markram said. “He is pretty streetwise when it comes to his plans and adapting to conditions. It’s exciting for us to have a new face like him in the squad.”

Nandre Burger

With Anrich Nortje still recovering from a lower back stress fracture, Burger has been tasked with bringing express pace to this series and showed what he can do on debut in the T20I on Thursday. Though expensive, his speeds were upwards of 145 kph and he found some swing and longer spells may give the selectors a better idea of what he offers. Burger was the joint-leading wicket-taker in the provincial one-day cup with an economy rate of 4.60 which suggests the talent is there. Now it’s just about showing it.

Lizaad Williams

South Africa’s reliable stand-in seamer, Williams, could consider himself the leader of the attack in this series in the absence of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and even Gerald Coetzee. While he has more experience as a T20 cricketer at international level, he has 60 List A games to his name and as someone who has played at the most recent World Cup, he could be an important member of South Africa’s transitioning outfit, when it comes to skills-sharing.

As India gears up to host its first Women’s Test since 2014, two teams prepare to plunge into a format they have little exposure to

S Sudarshanan12-Dec-20234:04

Mandhana on playing Test after two years: Lot of ‘mental preparation’

In unknown territory, you hold familiar things close. A habit. That cosy blanket. A routine. Or equipment.Smriti Mandhana walked in for her press conference with her batting pads tucked under her arms. England had loud music – chartbusters from Taylor Swift, Tiesto, Dua Lipa et al – while they trained. The unfamiliar terrain is a home Women’s Test for India. The last time it happened was in 2014. Only Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur from that match remain in India’s squad for the one-off Test against England at DY Patil Stadium.Related

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This will be the first Test for India since Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami retired last year. They started their preparation for the Test with a four-day intra-squad match – India vs India A – at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru in November. That is where Shubha Satheesh impressed the selectors with her batting. There were more red-ball training sessions before the players dispersed – for India, India A and inter-zonal duties.Even when the T20Is against England were on at the Wankhede Stadium, the Test-only players – Shubha, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana and Meghna Singh – in the squad trained hard with the red ball.”Bodies are not used to playing four back-to-back days of cricket because we generally play T20s and ODIs which have gaps,” Mandhana said. “More than physical part, being there [on the field] for four days mentally, trying to focus on each ball [is important].’As the number of Tests increase, we may see a new domestic tournament for long-form cricket’ – Smriti Mandhana•Getty Images”If you mentally prepare yourself, I don’t think [moving from T20Is to Tests] is a big change because it is about applying yourself. The batting is not about changing a lot of techniques; it is about the mental shift of patience more than anything. That will be crucial because I don’t see anyone changing their batting or bowling techniques. That takes a lot of time.”While players all over the world feast on white-ball cricket, be it in their respective domestic circuits or in T20 leagues, nowhere do they train for multi-day cricket. Even England and Australia, who regularly play one-off Tests as part of the Women’s Ashes, do not have two-, three- or four-day cricket at the domestic level.The BCCI discontinued multi-day cricket for women in the domestic circuit after 2018. Women’s age-group cricket as well as senior women’s tournaments have been confined to the T20 and 50-over formats since.”To be fair, we have played a lot of T20s and one-dayers in the last four-five years. And hence the structure was in place to help us get more T20s and one-day experience because we had more T20 and one-day World Cups,” Mandhana said. “We didn’t play many Tests. As the number of Tests increase, we may see a new domestic tournament for long-form cricket. Domestic structure is always according to international demands.”England head coach Jon Lewis, who previously was with the men’s team as pace-bowling coach, brought along the positivity from the men’s Test set-up where he was briefly part of the Brendon McCullum-led coaching staff. He has seen how the men prepare – first-class games galore before coming into Test cricket – and the complete opposite in the women’s system. It has held them back in certain situations, like when England went for a fourth-innings chase of 268 at Trent Bridge earlier this year and fell short. Lewis’ mantra is simple – look at Tests as an extension of the white-ball games, which the women are used to playing, and do what you do best.3:50

Knight: Playing a Test in India is a ‘bucket list thing’

“The key thing is the mindset they take into the game and understanding that the skills that they’re using are the same skills they are using in white-ball cricket,” he said. “The anxiety that players on both sides will feel will be around understanding of the game itself because they just don’t play a lot of it. They might watch a lot of it and listen to people on TV – but from my experience people on TV don’t talk a lot of sense. Some do, some don’t, but they have to fill time.”What we’ll try and do is get the minds in the right place as best as we can. [With] the skills they have got, they are more than capable of playing the game in front of them. Having one-off Test matches is very tricky especially for a coach to prepare the team as best as I can. The time and space to do it is limited and we don’t play red-ball cricket or two-day, three-day, four-day cricket domestically. Our last game was the Ashes. We’ll try and play an entertaining brand of cricket.”All’s not new for England, who last played a Test match earlier this year. They also played a couple of Tests – one each against Australia and South Africa – last year. For them, the unknown lies more in the conditions, and adapting to them. England last played a Test match in India in 2005; there is no recent experience to draw from apart from white-ball games.”Pretty quick turnaround – we have talked about that; we have done it before,” England captain Heather Knight, for whom playing a Test match in India is one of her “bucket-list things as a cricketer” said. “We have played an Ashes Test match in Canberra in 2022, where we had two days’ preparation.”That can create a little bit of anxiety around not feeling ready. [It is] about getting the heads right around knowing exactly how to approach Test-match cricket, how you want to play and not thinking too much about conditions and pre-planning what might happen, because you don’t know what surface you will get. We won’t have the perfect prep but that is how it works in international cricket – it is about getting your head right and embracing the challenge.”Tammy Beaumont scored a double-hundred in her last Test match, but that was nearly six months ago•PA Images via Getty ImagesOpener Tammy Beaumont is coming off a double-century in Nottingham, a knock that is now a good six months old. She pays heed to what her father reminds her every time she plays a game: “You start again on nought.””It’s funny actually,” Beaumont, the first Englishwoman to score a Test double-ton, said on ESPNcricinfo’s podcast. “When Jon Lewis called me about selection news, [he said] ‘I don’t think there’s a more in-form Test player at the moment.’ I was like that was six months ago, how do you stay in form?”You try and take learnings from each Test match you play. It is not something you can jump straight into. These days we play a lot of T20s and a lot of 50 overs, that becomes [automatic]. Whereas when you are learning to do things, you have to think about it again.”The big part is not thinking a lot about the big picture all the time. At Trent Bridge when we fielded for a day-and-a-half, when the final wicket fell, we had 470 [473] to get. If you do that you are shooting yourself in the foot somewhat. Whereas the most important thing was to get through to the next drinks break. Just get through to the new ball, make sure we don’t lose a wicket before, whatever, seeing the shine off it. Next thing, change of bowler, what are they trying to do, how can I score of them, next bit. Oh, time to sit down now, tea time! Just try to constantly staying in that moment and thinking about that and not getting far ahead of yourself.”When the two teams take the field in whites on Thursday, a lot of things will be different. But they will reassure themselves with the thought that they have done their best in the limited time they have had, and let their skills and instincts take over.

From Berkshire Under-18s to a Test cap, we run through the 20-year-old’s remarkable rise

Alan Gardner01-Feb-2024

So England have picked another rookie spinner?

Yes, after their success in Hyderabad with the debutant Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed, in his second appearance, England have picked offspinner Bashir as a direct replacement for Jack Leach – their most-experienced spinner on tour, who was ruled out through injury.

Where has Bashir sprung from?

Bashir was on few people’s radar when England named him in their 16 for India back in December, ahead of the leading spinner in last year’s County Championship, Liam Dawson. He has only played six first-class games, having signed for Somerset ahead of the 2023 season, and his current record is an unspectacular 10 wickets at 67.00. However, he impressed on a Lions training camp in the UAE, taking six wickets against Afghanistan A in front of Brendon McCullum and Rob Key.

He’s not come the usual route then?

To say the least. Bashir was part of Surrey’s pathway from Under-9s to Under-17s before being released, leading him to fear that a professional career may not materialise. But he subsequently caught the attention of Somerset playing for Berkshire Under-18s before impressing on trial and being given a contract.Gareth Batty, the former England offspinner who is now head coach at Surrey, told ESPNcricinfo: “We didn’t have many places on the professional staff. Yousef Majid, the left-arm spinner, was the guy the club went with and around that time, Bashir had a huge growth spurt, which is very difficult for young people. It can take a while to get that movement pattern comfortable again but he’s obviously gone down to a very, very well-run club in Somerset, and he’s thrived.”

What attributes does he possess?

That growth spurt – Bashir is 6ft 4in – is one of the principle reasons he caught England’s attention. Stokes spotted his potential via clips on social media after bowling to Alastair Cook on first-class debut, which he forwarded to Key and McCullum on WhatsApp.Related

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England also used data from iHawk cameras worn by umpires on the county circuit to look beyond Bashir’s raw averages. “Without sounding like an analyst, he’s got one of the higher release points in the game,” Key said after his selection in December.

Sounds like he’s had a dream few weeks…

Well, yes, apart from the issues with his Indian visa that meant he only arrived in Hyderabad on day four of the first Test. Although born in Surrey, Bashir’s parents are of Pakistani heritage and a lengthy delay saw him return to the UK following England’s pre-series camp in the UAE to get final approval for his entry to India a week after the rest of the squad.

Should India be wary?

It is an enormous step up for Bashir, but England will hope he can have a similar impact to Hartley – another 6ft 4in fingerspinner – after the Lancastrian recovered from being worked over in the first innings to claim a match-winning seven-wicket haul in the second. Hartley became the third England spinner in the last 14 months to take a five-for on debut under Stokes, after Rehan and Will Jacks did so in Pakistan, and the captain’s sensitive handling could be key to how quickly Bashir settles in Test whites.”Everything’s happened very quickly, in the blink of an eye, really,” Bashir told Somerset’s YouTube channel after signing for the club back in March. The same could be said of his impending Test debut.

With a side full of young batters, the responsibility on Rohit was more than usual. He did not disappoint

Karthik Krishnaswamy11-Mar-20242:35

How significant is this series win for India?

The World Test Championship final last year was Rohit Sharma’s 50th Test match. He was the fifth-most experienced member of India’s top seven in that game.The Dharamsala Test that ended on Saturday was Rohit’s 59th Test, and India’s top seven had undergone so much of a churn over those nine Tests that he was now its second-most experienced member. It included three players who hadn’t played Test cricket before this series, and one who came in with just four previous caps.For India, from a batting perspective, this series was all about the new and new-ish faces. Yashasvi Jaiswal became the first India batter since Sunil Gavaskar to score more than 700 runs in a series. Shubman Gill came of age. Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal made brilliant first impressions. Even the one debutant who didn’t quite come off, Rajat Patidar, went through a run of luck wretched enough to be worth writing about.With all that youthful energy around him, and with his harnessing of that energy as captain taking up its share of oxygen, it was inevitable that Rohit’s batting would fly under the radar. But the series is done now, giving us space to reflect on his 400 runs – fourth in the series aggregates behind Jaiswal, Gill and Zak Crawley – at 44.44.In a series played in mostly batting-friendly conditions, that average doesn’t demand your attention. But, notably, he went at a strike rate of 64.20 – behind only Jaiswal and Sarfaraz among India’s batters – and at 70.00 in the first ten overs of his innings. That’s not as quick as Ben Duckett (81.10) in that phase, but quicker than both Crawley (68.72) and Jaiswal (63.09).It wasn’t the all-out aggression Rohit had adopted in the first powerplay during last year’s ODI World Cup, but it wasn’t too far from being its red-ball equivalent.Rohit Sharma hits a six•Getty ImagesIt said something about the situations India were in, and Rohit’s instincts in those situations. Go back to India’s failed chase of 231 in Hyderabad. There were times during that fourth innings when India’s batters seemed to retreat into their shells, making little apparent effort to disturb the England spinners’ lengths. According to ESPNcricinfo’s data – – India’s batters scored 28 runs off 172 good-length balls from the spinners during that chase, as against England’s 175 off 306 in the third innings.England’s batters, led by Ollie Pope, had used the sweep and reverse-sweep frequently against good-length balls. Most of India’s batters failed to come up with an equivalent response. The exception was Rohit, whose 58-ball 39 featured frequent forays down the pitch, sweeps, and back-to-back reverse-swept fours off Jack Leach.This was Rohit’s way right through the series. His response to India being 33 for 3 on the first morning in Rajkot was, likewise, to counterattack – on this occasion, luck was on his side and an edged slog off Tom Hartley, when he was on 27, was spilled by Joe Root at slip. He raced to his half-century in 71 balls and eventually made 131 off 196.Related

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Dharamsala was perhaps the one time in this series when a long Rohit innings coincided with India establishing and extending a dominant position. It was, in some ways, his most straightforward innings, an outcome of spending time in good batting conditions and taking toll of an attack that wasn’t particularly challenging. It allowed India fans to sit back and enjoy his batting without worrying about the match situation or conditions. You simply let the Rohit shots – and those from Gill at the other end – wash over you, particularly the ones he hit off Mark Wood: the early back-foot drive through cover point; the hooked six with fine leg, long leg and deep square leg in place; the back-away slap through mid-off when there was no one in front of square on the off side.Before that, Ranchi presented India a fourth-innings chase as tricky as the one in Hyderabad, and Rohit set it up in much the same manner, using his feet constantly to minimise the risk of lbw, in the process messing with the lengths of England’s spinners – this perhaps contributed to the slew of full-tosses they sent down. There were audacious shots against pace too, most memorably a pick-up shot for six over wide long-on off a good-length ball from James Anderson.At one point, the audacity seemed to go to an almost unprecedented extreme, when Rohit took an off-stump guard against Hartley.Right-hand batters often stand on off stump when they face offspinners or right-arm seamers bowling from over the wicket, to try and take lbw out of the equation. But it’s almost unheard of for the off-stump guard to be used against left-arm spinners operating from around the wicket, because they can straighten the ball from a stump-to-stump line. Standing on off stump forces batters to play across the line to this sort of ball, greatly increasing their risk of dismissal. And yet, here Rohit was, daring Hartley to attack his pads and stumps.3:53

Rohit mounts staunch defence of pitches in India

It seemed to have the opposite effect on Hartley, though. Bowlers have two points of reference – the stumps and the batter – and Hartley’s line appeared to shift in reaction to the batter’s position. Rather than attack the stumps, he seemed to shift his line wider, taking lbw and bowled out of the equation on a pitch with low bounce.Until he was stumped for 55, Rohit seemed to have pulled off a psychological masterclass against an inexperienced bowler. He revealed in his post-match press conference, however, that he had done no such thing. He said he hadn’t even been aware he had been batting on off stump until he went back and watched footage of his innings. It’s possible he had simply taken stance on a spot he must have marked for the offspinner Shoaib Bashir when Hartley bowled from the same end.Rohit Sharma celebrates his 12th Test century•Gareth Copley/Getty”I was not aware, honestly,” Rohit said. “I was not aware of it until I went and saw the replay on the screen that I’m batting on off stump, because there was a lot of [foot]marks there, so I didn’t want to bat on off stump.”I wanted to stay a little leg-side [of the ball] and play the left-arm spinner, but against the offie I wanted to just try and move around a little bit in the crease, middle stump, off stump, try and just get him thinking a little bit as well.”If Rohit can make the viewer think he’s pulling off a heist when he’s simply being absentminded, it’s because of the adaptability he’s shown time and again in the past. His home record is as good as it is – his average of 61.58 is the best of all batters with at least 2000 Test runs in India – because he’s found a range of methods for dealing with the various challenges home conditions can present. He trusted his defence and survived two fiery early spells from Kagiso Rabada on his way to 212 in Ranchi in 2019. He used the sweep and slog-sweep extensively when he made 161 against England in Chennai in 2021, but avoided those shots almost entirely when he made 120 against Australia last year in Nagpur.This series presented Rohit with another diverse set of challenges, at a time when he was expected to carry one of the least experienced batting line-ups India have ever named. He came through them in a manner we have come to expect, but don’t let that fool you into thinking what he did was routine.

Kent skipper tips team-mate Zak Crawley to be England’s next Test captain

Vithushan Ehantharajah09-May-2024Daniel Bell-Drummond was just three years old when Kent last beat Lancashire away from home in the County Championship.On Sunday, he took his boyhood county over the line for their first victory at Emirates Old Trafford since 1997, with an innings of 79 not out from 156 balls. It was also Bell-Drummond’s first win since taking over as Kent’s full-time captain in October.The scorecard tells of a routine seven-wicket win, though there were nerves. Lancashire were up against it after Nathan Gilchrist (6 for 24) and Wes Agar (4 for 35) skittled them for 92 in response to Kent’s first innings of 267, but then Bell-Drummond pushed the button and asked the hosts to follow on. About 90 minutes later, Lancashire were 101 for 1 inside 20 overs.”I’m quite good at keeping my emotions in check, and I was making sure to do that,” Bell-Drummond says. “But, inside, I was definitely… I won’t say fearing the worst, but I thought we’d potentially thrown away a brilliant position that we were in. My heart was in my mouth when they got off to a brilliant start in the second innings.”Some of that anxiety was the desperation to make amends after an innings defeat against Surrey. Kent then had a week off, with some of the players getting away to recharge. For Bell-Drummond, that period involved a bit of reflection, in which he checked up on his teammates to ensure they were not too dismayed, kept abreast of how the second team was going, and deliberated selection, which was made a little easier with Gilchrist and Agar returning from injury. It’s all part of being a club captain.Related

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Thankfully, three wickets fell on the evening of day two in the space of 20 balls to settle the nerves. “Joey Evison came in and made a big breakthrough for us (removing Josh Bohannon). And some brilliant work behind the stumps by Harry Finch getting rid of Keaton Jennings – I think that was a game-changing piece of play from him (Finch). Being able to take their captain out when he was set made sure we took control of that day.” Lancashire eventually posted 332 – the highest score of the match – before they chased down 164 with two sessions to spare.Bell-Drummond would make that follow-on call again, he says, not just because of how the result panned out. The fear of having to face Nathan Lyon and Tom Hartley batting fourth at a ground that has already shown appreciative spin this season was outweighed by gloomy conditions exacerbated by the floodlights. It was also a chance to heap more pressure on a Lancashire side who have struggled in the opening weeks of the season. “It was really 50-50. We rotated the three seamers mostly, so it was quite tough for them. But that was the best way to push on and win. Thankfully we did.”It’s exactly that sort of conviction a captain needs, particularly at a club where the armband squeezes a little tighter than most. Kent’s proud history lends itself to a list of vaunted men’s skippers, of which Bell-Drummond is the 36th. Plenty of them found it tough, and even on the 42 occasions prior to this season that Bell-Drummond had assumed the role on a temporary basis, he is aware of the expectations supporters have for red-ball cricket and how the job has evolved.”Things are a lot more efficient now, which is good,” he says, when asked if the strain of the job was something he had prepared for. “Simon Cook, our director of cricket, has changed a few things. We’ve got a selection committee, so it’s not a one-man band, which is great for me. More opinions and more experience on the table to help make tough decisions.” While previous Kent captains didn’t think much for outside interference, Bell-Drummond sees the benefits.Zak Crawley is ‘a great leader of men’, according to Bell-Drummond•Getty ImagesAlongside him in the dressing-room are vice-captain Jack Leaning and Zak Crawley, who will be a more regular presence in the coming months with England’s Test summer only beginning in the second week of July. Such is Bell-Drummond’s high regard for Crawley that he would not be surprised if he succeeded Ben Stokes as Test captain.”He’s a great leader of men,” Bell-Drummond says of the opening batter, whose upturn in form in Test cricket has coincided with him emerging as a figurehead of the England dressing-room. “He sets the standard with everything he does, whether it’s how he trains or his attitude and competitiveness in games. He’s still a very young man. He’s got a long way to go. And for me – yeah, I’m biased – but I definitely see him as a future Test captain.”I always speak to him about certain things, even when he’s not in the dressing-room. Because of my more measured approach, we work off each other very well. There are a few lads in the dressing-room, especially Jack Leaning, who I can bounce ideas off.”But regarding Zak, he’s very professional and hard-working. If anything, he’s got more humble the better he’s done. That’s what’s great about him. You come back into the changing-room and he’s joking with the youngest player, giving them confidence. He’s great for the team and no wonder he’s going well with his career because he’s very strong mentally and very talented.”Bell-Drummond regularly debriefs with previous incumbent Sam Billings, who remains T20 captain at the club. And he has also been able to call upon the advice of Rob Key, England men’s managing director, who was in charge when Bell-Drummond first broke through at Kent, and has always rated him highly.

He’s got a long way to go. And for me – yeah, I’m biased – but I definitely see him as a future Test captain.Bell-Drummond on Zak Crawley

“Keysy’s main point around captaincy was to make sure I’m being myself and being authentic because people can spot an imposter a mile off. I’ve been in the changing-room a while now, 14 years, so I’m just going to carry that same energy forward. He’s been extremely supportive. One of the main bits of advice has been to focus on my batting because it’s easier to make decisions when you’re leading from the front.”Bell-Drummond is clearly adhering to that last nugget. The half-century against Lancashire was his fourth fifty-plus score of the season, which includes 107 not out and 135 against Somerset and Essex respectively. Going into the latest round of matches, Bell-Drummond has 428 runs – the third most in Division One – at an average of 71.33.It is the product of a lot of hard work in the winter, which the 30-year-old reckons was the first since his GCSE year (15 going on 16) that he has spent at home. A technique reliant on stillness has been reinforced, along with work on his bat swing, as well as mentally preparing for leadership.”I won’t say I’m an introverted guy, but I definitely get out there more and check in on everyone else. I’ve captained Kent before and was a vice-captain, but it’s quite different being club captain.”With the runs, that was something, deep down inside me, I was desperate to do. Carry on my form from last year (579 runs at 44.53 in nine matches). But also I knew how important it was to be captain and the difference in responsibility of taking the team into account and making sure I was doing the right thing by them.”With that is an extra pressure, things can go one of two ways. When I’m on my best form, the responsibility will only make me better. On the pitch is sometimes the easiest part of captaincy, and I’m really enjoying it.”

No other swing bowler has been as lethal at the highest level for as long as Anderson has

Ian Chappell14-Jul-2024Jimmy Anderson retired as the greatest swing bowler the game has seen.There have been many other fine swing bowlers but none have plied their skill for such a long period at the highest level. Anderson had that rare ability to swing the ball both ways with very little change to his action. Where other good bowlers gave the batter a clue with their change of arm slot, Anderson was able to produce swing both ways minus the early warning signal.This is a remarkable skill and it made Anderson an extremely tough opponent.Twenty-one years at the top is a tribute to his fitness, skill and ability to learn. There was also his desire to keep playing when big life changes, like having a wife and kids, could easily have surpassed the priority of Test cricket.His subtle skills became more obvious as he continued to run in with the same smooth rhythm and produce a probing delivery on a testing line. He continued to do so no matter whether he was bowling to a right- or left-handed batter. That was another skill that set him apart from many swing bowlers – it made little difference what type of batter he was facing.Related

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At the 2009 Lord’s Test, along with Andrew Flintoff, Anderson produced a wonderfully consistent spell of bowling. There wasn’t a bad ball from either bowler and Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin played brilliantly just to stay in the fight against such a prolonged examination.It’s difficult to explain how tough it is to maintain a high standard of swing bowling for an extended period.I had the good fortune to captain the prodigious swing bowling of Bob Massie at Lord’s in 1972. Massie claimed 16 wickets in a miraculous debut which involved sustained swing bowling where he made the ball swerve both ways with unerring accuracy.This wasn’t a one-off performance as Massie took four wickets in the first innings of the next match at Trent Bridge and claimed 23 for the series in four Tests. He won a place in the Australian side by bowling Bill Lawry twice – no mean feat – in a Western Australia vs Victoria Shield match at the MCG.

Where other good bowlers gave the batter a clue with their change of arm slot, Anderson was able to produce swing both ways minus the early warning signal

Massie then played against the World XI at the SCG in early 1972 and took seven first-innings wickets, including the prized scalps of Garfield Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar and Graeme Pollock. Massie was no one-match wonder as a swing bowler, but his Test career lasted just 234 days.Anderson’s sustained swing bowling performance spanned 21 years and 188 Tests. That is a remarkable achievement involving skill and resilience.On the 2010-11 Ashes tour, Anderson produced another of his sublime outswingers to dismiss Ricky Ponting at the Adelaide Oval. That was Anderson’s best tour of Australia with 24 wickets, but by claiming captain Ponting for a duck and sending the scoreboard into a two for nought frenzy, it put England well on the way to victory.Despite Australia winning the next Test, by claiming the captain’s scalp in Adelaide, Anderson commenced England’s charge to a rare Ashes victory away from home.The tributes for Anderson have been many, touching not just on his undoubted bowling skill but also his grumpiness, the changes of hairdo and his stubbornness with the bat. It’s not surprising that he was occasionally grumpy, which resulted in the odd terse comment. Most people’s patience would be severely tested if they regularly charged in to bowl only to beat the bat and receive no reward.Despite the occasional outburst Anderson retained his patience, which was partly responsible for his amazing success.As retirement loomed, the thing that stood out most in Anderson’s often reluctant comments was his desire to win. This was a crucial motivating factor in his success.England will miss Anderson as it’s difficult to replace his rare skill. Importantly, though, Anderson’s career is now a celebrated one where he’s recognised as the best swing bowler the game has produced.

From the most runs scored in an over to the best match figures, this bunch comes with a glittering list of T20I accolades

Harigovind S23-Aug-2024 • Updated on 23-Oct-2024

Most consecutive T20I wins: 14*

With a seven-wicket win over Greece in the T20 World Cup sub-regional Europe Qualifier, Spain broke the record for the most consecutive wins in men’s T20Is. This was their 14th successive win, taking them past Malaysia and Bermuda’s joint record of 13. During their streak, Spain have beaten Isle of Man, Jersey, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic and Greece. Their last defeat was in November 2022 when they lost to Italy by 33 runs.

Most runs scored in an over: 39

A record that, until recently, was shared by Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Dipendra Singh Airee and Nicholas Pooran, now rests in the hands of Darius Visser, the Samoa batter who hit Vanuatu medium pacer Nalin Nipiko for six sixes in an over that went for 39 overall courtesy three no-balls. Visser ended up with 132 off 62 balls in a total of 174.Related

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Most sixes in an innings: 18

Estonia batter Sahil Chauhan smashed 18 sixes in his record-breaking 144 not out off 41 balls against Cyprus in June this year. During the course of his knock, he also broke the record for the quickest T20I century – off just 27 balls. Chasing 192, Chauhan helped Estonia knock off the target in a mere 13 overs.

Best bowling figures: 7 for 8

Malaysia medium pacer Syazrul Idrus made history when he recorded the first-ever seven-for in T20Is against China in July 2023. He finished with figures of 7 for 8 as China were bundled out for 23. Before Idrus, this record belonged to Nigeria’s Peter Aho who had taken 6 for 5 against Sierra Leone in 2021.Dipendra Singh Airee went where no other batter has gone in T20I cricket•Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images

Fastest fifty: 9 balls

Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee smashed the record for the fastest T20I fifty against Mongolia. He got there off just nine balls, breaking the record previously held by Yuvraj Singh who had scored a fifty off 12 balls against England in the 2007 T20 World Cup.

Highest team score: 344 for 4

Against little-known Gambia, who had given walkover victories to their opponents in the first two matches of the T20 World Cup Africa sub-regional qualifiers, Zimbabwe ransacked 344 runs in 20 overs with Sikandar Raza raising their first ever century in the format. He got to three-figures in just 33 balls as records fell left, right and centre including most sixes (27) in an innings and most boundaries (57) in an innings.

Fastest century: 27 balls

Nepal’s Kushal Malla first broke Rohit Sharma and David Miller’s record of the fastest T20I century by getting there in 34 balls against Mongolia. Then Namibia’s Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton bettered it by one ball five months later against Nepal. Sahil Chauhan then needed just 27 balls to reach the three-figure mark against Cyprus.6:06

Highlights: Sahil Chauhan breaks record for fastest T20I ton (Credit: FanCode)

Highest score on debut: 108*

For 14 years this record belonged to Ricky Ponting who had hit 98* in the first-ever T20I. It was breached three times in a span of four months in 2019 before Canada’s Matthew Spoors took the honours with an unbeaten 108 on debut against Phillippines.

Most maidens in an innings: 4

Lockie Ferguson’s four back-to-back maidens in this year’s T20 World Cup match against PNG caused quite the stir, but it wasn’t the first time such an event had occurred in T20Is. He equalled the record set three years previously by Canada’s Saad Bin Zafar who finished with figures of 4-4-0-2 against Panama in a T20 World Cup Americas Region Qualifier match.

Youngest player*: 14y 16d

Romania’s Marian Gherasim’s 14th birthday gift came in the form of an international debut against Bulgaria, making him the youngest player (*among those with an officially recorded date of birth) to debut in a T20 international game.

Highest career average: 63.35*

India’s Virat Kohli and Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan had been tussling for this record for a good three years. Enter Malawi’s Sami Sohail, who now has the highest average in T20I cricket history (for a minimum of 1000 runs, *as of the date of publishing).Oct 23, 2024 Updated after Zimbabwe’s record