Fast bowler promises caution in comeback but plans to commit to all international formats

Vithushan Ehantharajah24-Nov-2022″A small day but still a big day,” was how Jofra Archer described day one of this three-day match between the Test squad and the England Lions.Wednesday was the first time since March 2021 that Archer had bowled in an England shirt, even if he was doing so for the Lions, and his first proper run-out since July 2021. Those nine overs of 0 for 38, split across spells of five and four, are a small aside in the context of this week, as England focus in on a three-Test tour of Pakistan. For Archer, however, it was the first of a number of calculated steps on the horizon.The next will come in January in the SA20 where Archer has signed for MI Cape Town. He will play two games for the franchise before joining up with England for their three-match series against South Africa. A limited-overs tour of Bangladesh will follow before moving onto the IPL with Mumbai Indians.And then, come June, England will be gearing up for the Ashes before switching their focus to the defence of their 50-over crown in the ODI World Cup in India later that winter. Whether Archer will be involved in each phase of this itinerary will depend on how he makes it through the plan that he has concocted with the ECB physios and director of men’s cricket Rob Key.”The absolute key for Jofra is that we don’t want him to have to go through what he has been through for the last year and a half ever again,” Key said. “There is no perfect scenario [in recovery], but this bit now is so crucial to make sure that [his] bone density and all the other things I don’t understand are strong, so he is robust enough for the rigours of being a multi-format cricketer, who is going to have franchise deals and stuff like that, so we can get the best out of him when it really matters.”This is not simply an Archer comeback crescendo-ing to Australia’s visit next summer. This is about building long-term durability after almost two years out of action, due to stress fractures of his elbow and then back. Simply, it is about Jofra Archer.”This is probably the first time I’ve been so close to umpires in about 18 months as well,” Archer said with a smile. “It’s really good to be back and being here with all the guys is probably the best way to do it as well.”He had been out in Dubai with the Lions since the start of November before moving to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday evening ahead of this match. Preparation has been tapered with match situations at close to match intensity, which is how he was able to crank up to speeds of 90mph – as per the ECB’s on-site speed gun – and pin opener Zak Crawley in the head with the sixth ball of the match. “I wasn’t even trying to hit him, I was just trying to get out of the over!”Of course, the most important aspect of what he did on Wednesday was how he felt on Thursday. Thankfully for all concerned, the aches Archer does feel give him comfort.Jofra Archer trained with England in Barbados as part of his rehabilitation earlier this year, until a stress fracture of his back•Getty Images”I feel sore – the usual when you bowl. Nothing to worry about at all. It’s weird feeling this way again. This is probably the best soreness I’ve ever had after bowling. I’ll take this!”Hopefully it stays like this, as I play some more cricket and it goes on. It was really nice, yesterday was a really really big day. It was a small day but still a big day.”To Archer’s mind, he is “fully back”, but in the sense that he is bowling sharply and is around the team in a meaningful way. He believes that this is the beginning of the end of what has been a period of deep frustration and torment.”I think getting on the plane and coming here was the start,” he said. “Obviously to get back to the first team is my number one priority at the minute. But also getting back there as safely as possible.”Resisting the temptation to rush to the end is paramount. “You’d be crazy not to say you want to go to Pakistan,” he admitted, wide-eyed, clearly desperate to add to 13 Test caps and 42 wickets. ” But that might not be the best move.” He will also not be considered for selection for March’s two-Test series in New Zealand.”I’d rather take these last few months very seriously, more serious than probably all of the rehab. Because once this phase goes right, then it can set me up for the next three to four years injury-free. That’s the goal right now.”Underpinning the meticulous planning, medical expertise and diligence from those working with Archer is a clear maturity from the man himself. It is evident when he recalls the timeline of events that kept him out of action for this long. The clarity of thought, the appreciation of misfortune, no resenting the universe or the cricketing gods. And acceptance that, particularly in the case of stress fractures, they can happen again but he should not live in fear of that.”It wasn’t 18 months continuously. First time, I was getting ready to play the Hundred that summer [2021] and the results of the scan came in and said I had a stressy [elbow]. I literally had my kit bag packed and everything was ready to go. Then I got that call saying I had a stressy so then I took some time off and rehabbed.”And then when the Tests were in Barbados [March 2022] I was in Barbados as well and it was probably about 80 percent then. And then my back went. So, I don’t feel I was out for that long doing nothing, because I was training, then had to stop, then built up training again and then had to stop.”You’re still a little bit wary because I’ve done it twice and it’s happened. It’s in the back of your mind. But I think I’ve just about got past it… and yesterday was probably the first time I could let it go. If it happens, it happens, but you can’t just keep taking a back step.”Jofra Archer hasn’t featured in an England international since the tour of India in March 2021•Getty ImagesIt helped that Archer was away from England – spending, he reckons, 80 percent of his time at home in Barbados. “It hurt but not that bad: I was already home with my family and my friends and my dogs, so it was a bit easier to deal with.”He was also away from prying eyes during his various stints of recovery and, equally helpful, was a bit of distance between him and the team to which he had previously been integral.”Luckily being in Barbados, the time difference helped a lot with not being able to watch a lot of cricket. Obviously I watched the semi-final in Dubai, the T20 one [2021]. I watched that, but a lot of the games I tried my best not to watch.”I watched some of the Ashes because it would come on just as I was going to bed. So I watched a little bit, but you don’t watch as intently because the wickets were really good in Oz this year, I’m not going to lie. It was a little bit painful to watch it on TV.”You’ve just got to take yourself away a little bit. It’s not that you’re not supporting the lads or anything like that, but you’ve got a long time away and you’re no help to the lads or yourself if you’re just droning in the background feeling down.”At the same time, Archer has been able to appreciate the glory without feeling a sense of FOMO. The T20 World Cup earlier this month “wasn’t painful at all”, because at no point did he feel Jos Buttler needed him – in the best way possible.Related

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“To be honest, I don’t think I really wanted to be there because obviously the guys at the tournament I had absolute faith that they were going to do it, so there was no need for me to go.”I spoke to CJ [Chris Jordan] everyday, he even called me just after the game [final] finished and you still felt like you were part of the team and part of the celebrations. Hopefully when he gets back I get to see his medal. We’ve got a World Cup coming up next year as well so hopefully get a chance to help defend that.”It’s worth reiterating, even on behalf of Archer, that he never entertained the idea of playing exclusively white-ball cricket upon returning. He himself is bemused at just how often it comes up.”I’m actually surprised that I actually hear it that often. Everyone, from the very first week I was off, up until the last few weeks of rehab, you know?”Test cricket is his passion, and the Ashes could represent a milestone in his journey so far, after the manner in which he impressed in his maiden international season. “I’m more than prepared to do some extra bowling and stuff in and around some other cricket, just to put my name in the hat [for that series].”But there’s plenty of love on offer for the other formats. The depth of players and the tailored plans around selection (specifially, rotation) gives him the belief that players can get their fill of all codes without doing themselves mischief.”Given the strength of our squad, you can do it because you don’t have to play every single game,” he said. “The squad is strong enough that we can rotate players. I would love to play every game, but I don’t think the physio would let me.”Amid the interest in his return to match bowling this week came a wave of goodwill messages across social media. “My phone kept going off a long time after,” he said of the reaction to photos of him with whites and a red ball in his hand. One of his friends commented on the scale of the reaction on Twitter. His Instagram account was just as full of love.He smiles at the mention of the umpteen tags on his own Instagram after he had reposted some of those well-wishes. At the same time, he is taking nothing for granted.”It’s a practice game, and it’s been very good to get some cobwebs off. I’ve probably got a few, maybe 50 or 60 days, before the next set of white-ball stuff, so after this I’m going to continue training because for me now, I can’t relax. I can’t take it particularly easy because I want to be ready for when the opportunity comes.”

Mendis, Karunaratne, Mathews, Chandimal and de Silva refused to buckle, and that’s not happened often

Andrew Fidel Fernando09-Mar-2023Sometimes you need only describe the scene at a cricket ground to know what is about to happen.The skies monochrome and heavy like a wet blanket that is about to be applied to the series at the first opportunity. The pitch so flush with vegetation, woodland creatures have taken residence. The outfield damp, as a cold drizzle descends occasionally on biting winds. And while the local bowlers – all tall and strapping – are lithe and powerful in their warm-up overs on the practice pitches, Sri Lanka batters swaddled in woollen sweaters face throwdowns, bearing the air of soon-to-be human sacrifices on an altar of seam bowling.Win the toss. Put Sri Lanka in. Watch the ball leap gleefully off bat edges into a pair of hands in the slip cordon, batter after batter clunking off like marionettes, the scoreboard showing 45 for 3, then 67 for 5, tail-end swipes pushing the total just beyond 100. Here are the familiar beats of a day one story for Sri Lanka at a ground such as Hagley Oval.Related

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Last time they were here, they didn’t have to bat first, but were nevertheless 104 all out. The previous time, they had the likes of Kumar Sangakkara in the XI, and were blitzed for 138. Barring second-innings near-miracles, which Sri Lanka do occasionally produce, these are match-defining mires. (And then New Zealand will go out to bat and put on half a million for six, wearing polite smiles that serve only to underscore the incompetence that had preceded.)And then, this. Four years after they had last played a Test in New Zealand (megaspanked by 423 runs, at this very venue), here was a day of astoundingly non-trash batting. Of gloriously semi-decent defensive play, of gobsmackingly okayish technique. Had Sri Lanka’s batters done the work to figure out the whereabouts of their off stump they started a Test on foreign soil? The mere thought should bring a tear of pure pride to the eyes of any Sri Lanka fan.Kusal Mendis, perhaps the form man in the XI, led the way. Key to his 87 off 83 was his judgment of length on a somewhat bouncy surface. When it was on a good length, he defended close to his body, almost always with soft hands, so that on the occasions the ball seamed and took the edge, the ball bounced short of the slips. Mostly, though, he defended inside the line, using his bat largely as an obstacle to deliveries that might pin him in front of the stumps, or sneak through to the wickets.When New Zealand’s bowlers bowled fuller, pressing hard for that catchable edge, Mendis committed fully to his front-foot strokes, sometimes driving imperiously, other times sending it squirting off the face of the bat through backward point, otherwise flicking deliciously off his pads.Angelo Mathews scored 38 of his 47 runs through the leg side, but looked gorgeous when driving down the ground•Getty ImagesHe hit 50 off 40 balls, as New Zealand’s bowlers had a modest morning themselves – 44 of those runs coming in boundaries. He and Dimuth Karunaratne, who was equally compact, but less aggressive against the hittable deliveries, put on a 137-run second-wicket partnership that formed the bedrock of Sri Lanka’s day-one progress. They would get out in successive overs, but their departure was unusually followed by further batting competence.Angelo Mathews waited for the shorter deliveries, scoring 38 of his 47 runs through the leg side, having also clipped a couple of boundaries off his pads. Dinesh Chandimal preferred the off side, hitting each of his six boundaries in that direction. Dhananjaya de Silva manufactured boundaries wherever he could, as he batted in the company of Kasun Rajitha towards the end of the day.Their scoring areas were diverse, but almost all of Sri Lanka’s top-seven batters covered the stumps, declined to lunge at balls until they were set, were unperturbed by the deliveries that beat their bats, and did not follow seaming balls outside their stumps. Collectively, they refused to collapse even in the face of probing bowling (mostly from Tim Southee and Matt Henry), as they often have in seaming conditions.Given the long tail, and the lack of experience in Sri Lanka’s attack (which New Zealand are very capable of exploiting), 305 for 6 is not an outstanding first-day score. New Zealand may well go on to dominate the match. But under the circumstances, Sri Lanka were passable. And you do not often say that of a Sri Lanka side on day one in New Zealand.

Both teams showed glimpses of how good they can be in a recently concluded three-match series, but there is still work to do

Firdose Moonda22-Mar-2023In a fifty-over World Cup year, it may sound strange to hear players talk about a series having “no point,” but there were literally no points on offer as South Africa took on West Indies over the last week. Their three ODIs – one of them was washed out – were an opportunity to experiment with both teams still some way away from reaching the 2023 World Cup. And so they did. The 1-1 result showed some glimpses of what the two of them can do and highlighted several areas they need to work on as they attempt to secure spots in India later this year.South Africa need to:Beat Netherlands 2-0 on March 31 and April 2. They have held their best players from going to the IPL for three days in order to achieve that. The results will only see South Africa through to the World Cup if Sri Lanka lose at least two of their three games to New Zealand in a series that starts at the weekend and Ireland lose at least one against Bangladesh in a three-match series in May. Crucially, after missing several players through illness and injury, including captain Temba Bavuma who tweaked a hamstring in the second ODI, South Africa’s main goal is to have everyone fit to take on Netherlands, and if they do they will look at:Consistency in selection Partly in an attempt to widen their talent pool and mostly because having players available for ODIs has not always been possible, South Africa have used 33 players in 33 matches since the time Mark Boucher took over in December 2019. While that is not as many as India, West Indies, Sri Lanka, England, Zimbabwe, Pakistan or Nepal, South Africa are not typically a side that operates well without structure, and several players have spoken out about their desire for consistency in selection.Heinrich Klaasen has played 20 of the 33 matches since December 2019•AFP/Getty ImagesThe latest is the match-winner from last night, Heinrich Klaasen who has played in 20 of those 33 matches and said he feels it is “the first time I’ve got a decent run in a team.” Klaasen has been tasked as being one of the finishers in a line-up that also includes David Miller so where, for example, does that leave Tristan Stubbs?South Africa are yet to identify their core group of around 15 ODI players which will make World Cup selection tricky but they know they have options for each spot. The Netherlands matches are too important for them to use anyone other than what they consider their best XI, so, barring any fitness issues, we will know who they are.Keep believing in the batting blueprintFor a while, South Africa called their style of play ‘brave cricket’ but over that period they rarely actually played that way. Over the last five matches (three against England and two against West Indies) captain Bavuma said they experienced “a watershed moment,” and finally walked the talk. “We’ve been speaking and speaking about how we want to play. There have been moments before it today but when a guy goes and plays like Heinrich did, it builds that belief and confidence and I hope it also builds that trust in people who are watching us as a team.”Klaasen’s 54-ball century was the fourth-fastest by a South African and ensured they swept aside a target of 261 inside 30 overs. In the second ODI, Bavuma scored a century that put them within reach of a record chase of 335 at Buffalo Park in East London. And in January, another Bavuma hundred saw South Africa chase 343 against England in Bloemfontein. They may not have a sexy name for it but South Africa’s batters can play aggressively and many of them have recently opened up different scoring areas on the field. The next step is to accept that batting that way doesn’t always work and some failure is inevitable, but it won’t be easy to deal with any slip-ups before they get to the World Cup.West Indies need to find a strike bowler•AFPWest Indies need to:Get to the final of the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe between June 18 and July 9. Luckily for them, they have been there and done that before. West Indies were runners-up in this event in 2018 and know what it takes to navigate what can be a tricky tournament. It may not even be such a bad thing for them to go the long way around because their recent lack of ODI cricket means they have plenty to work on in terms of finding the right combinations for a World Cup. Between August 2022 and March 2023, West Indies did not play any ODIs and appointed a new captain, Shai Hope. They will soon also have a white-ball-specific coach. With so many changes, Hope also wants to see a shift in mindset to make West Indies’ more competitive.”I’d like to see the attitude improve,” he said. “We need to show that die-hard fight for a lot longer. Winning is a habit, and the same way, losing can be a habit as well. We need to find ways to turn it around. As long as you have that attitude to win. Things will happen in your favour.”For that to happen, this is what they need to look at.Sort out the batting line-up Hope’s elevation to the captaincy has necessitated a move down the order to No. 4 which appears counterintuitive at first. Hope has scored almost 60% of his ODI runs (2612 runs out of a total of 4452) in the opening berth and averages 60.72 there. But, apart from the difficulties of batting upfront, captaining and keeping wicket, Hope has been deemed too slow to start innings. His strike rate of 68.15 in the first 10 overs since August 2019, is the slowest of the six batters West Indies have used in the position. Kyle Mayers’ strike rate of 82.85 is markedly better and is why he is batting at the top alongside Brandon King.Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran might bat at No. 4 and No. 5 for West Indies•Randy Brooks/AFP via Getty ImagesShamarh Brooks’ position at No. 3 will have to be looked at, as he has only scored one half-century in his last 13 innings, and then West Indies need to find someone at No. 5 or 6 who can act as a finisher. Rovman Powell and Nicholas Pooran were the two leading run-scorers in last season’s Super50 Cup and understandably hold the positions but West Indies may look to cast the net wider, to someone like Alick Athanaze, who travelled for the Test tour to South Africa and was sixth on the domestic run-charts, or go back to the experience of a player like Shimron Hetmeyer (his issues with the board aside) or even Johnson Charles.Add another strike bowler to the attackWhile Alzarri Joseph has accepted the role of leading the pace pack, and Jason Holder’s impact is so noticeable that when he left the field for treatment on his ankle in the 11th over of South Africa’s reply in the Potchefstroom ODI, West Indies unravelled. They appear to be lacking some depth in this department. Shannon Gabriel was part of the ODI squad and did not play a game, despite being the joint-leading bowler in the Super50 so there’s justification for picking him in Zimbabwe. West Indies may also look to someone like Obed McCoy, who has only played two ODIs but is part of the T20 playing group and whose firepower could make a real difference to the way West Indies handle opposition line-ups in the middle overs.

In 24 hours, there was a glorious little glimmer from both the A team as well as the seniors of what they could yet become

Danyal Rasool24-Jul-2023That was a good 24 hours for Pakistan cricket. Try and say those words out loud, to a friend, at a dinner party, even to yourself in an empty room. Notice the inflection in your voice as you reach the end of that sentence? It’s surprisingly difficult to voice that sentiment without the muscle memory in your vocal chords preparing for the caveat which always qualifies such a sentence, an unfortunate extended phenotype spawned by painstaking years of real-world experience.”That was a good day, but what is it the English are saying about our suspiciously sudden reverse swing? That was a good day, but why do I suddenly have to pay attention to the Supreme Court and someone called Justice Qayyum? That was a good day but heavens, why can’t we find the wicket-keeper in his hotel room? That was a good day, but oh my, weren’t those two no-balls really rather huge?”Calm your vocal chords, though, and say it again like you mean it, because days like these are what supporters suffer with their team for. Not for year-end financial reports, and certainly not for long-term plans. Have a look at what’s going on at the PCB and see if you feel optimistic about any plan that’ll survive beyond the next political or administrative upheaval. A moribund patient doesn’t eat cabbages and lettuce and wait for the six-pack that’ll come a year later. They take the sugar hit when it presents itself, and in the last 24 hours, Pakistan got theirs.Related

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Few beyond the tragics in Pakistan will pretend they were paying much attention to the Emerging Men’s Asia Cup until they checked the score halfway through the Pakistan innings on Sunday, and saw the dominance they were exercising over the Indian bowlers in Colombo. Having been turned over comprehensively by that same side earlier in the week, there was little interest and fewer expectations. But as the Ashes in Manchester reached its sodden, wet denouement, Pakistan’s young team were on fire putting India’s bowlers to the sword before running through their batters, a 128-run win seeing them gallop away with the trophy.Yes, Pakistan had sent a much more seasoned side to the tournament than India, but when you want that dopamine hit, you ignore that downer of a friend pointing this out. The senior Pakistan team, also in Colombo on the eve of the second Test against Sri Lanka, appeared to have no such analytical qualms as they revelled in the A side’s glory. Despite an early start on Monday, they were up well past their bedtimes to serenade Mohammad Haris and his team as he walked in with the trophy, Shaheen embracing him in a bear hug.There’s never a bad time for cake in Pakistan cricket, and one was magically conjured up, a rather modest looking chocolate fudge pie. What mattered more, though, was the message scribbled on the icing, one directed as much at the senior team as their recently triumphant junior counterparts. “The Pakistan Way,” it simply said, a catch-all term the coaching and management staff hope will translate into a brand of cricket that entertains as well as exceeds.A former Pakistan player who made his debut in the 90s spoke of the stark divide that existed between the younger and more experienced players, and the terrifying authority they exercised over already intimidated newcomers. On his debut, he sat down in one of the comfy chairs in the pavilion a senior player had marked as his own. When the player noticed what this young upstart had the audacity to do, he barked at him “Who do you think you are?” in front of the whole team, before turfing him out of the chair.No such divide existed here as Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and the Pakistan side sat down on the marble steps of the Cinnamon Grand with the A side, laughing, joking, feeding each other cake. As you looked from emerging player to senior player, it became impossible to tell which was which. No one was more equal than the other.

****

Babar Azam and Naseem Shah celebrate the fall of Angelo Mathews•AFP/Getty ImagesMorning in Colombo, and now it is the senior side’s turn. Babar loses the toss – some things never change, after all – and Sri Lanka insert themselves in on a flat, demon-free wicket. But it doesn’t matter how flat a wicket is if you’re going to take on a fielding side that has metamorphosised, almost overnight, into a world-class outfit.The openers take on Shan Masood with a quick single. Unwise, because Masood can do a bit of everything. He bats, he sometimes bowls, he often comes out for quality interviews. And he really, really fields well. He picks the ball up, and, in the same motion, knocks down the stumps with a direct hit. It’s almost as supple and languid as his cover drive, and here, it’s equally effective.Naseem Shah takes over. Naseem is young enough to be part of the A side that just won that trophy yesterday; he is two years younger, in fact, than the average age of that squad. He’s now up against Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne, two of the best players of a generation that blossomed while Naseem was trying to convince his parents to let him pursue cricket. But he’s well on top of Mathews, who keeps getting beaten by one that seams and nips away. He’s lucky enough to miss it twice, but the third time’s a charm for the Pakistan bowler. Weren’t there supposed to be no demons in this pitch?He can soon discuss that point with Karunaratne in the dressing room, because Naseem has sent perhaps the world’s best opener packing, too. He’s thrown one up fuller, lighting Karunaratne’s eyes up. This’ll be an easy put-away, as the Sri Lankan opener has made a career out of surviving good deliveries to put ones like these away. He leans into an expansive drive, but there’s that’s seam movement again. A feather of an inside edge, a collision of leather and timber, the jiggle of a pair of disturbed bails. Pakistan are flying.Sri Lanka mount a hopelessly late attempt to cage that bird, to dull the excitement with a gritty fifth-wicket partnership, just like they did in Galle. It works, to a point, and Pakistan’s edge is being dulled, the game neutralised. Only until Naseem returns, and this time with a different strategy. He might have swing and seam, but he also possesses bounce and pace. A short delivery rears up slightly, and Dinesh Chandimal, out of patience, hands Imam-ul-Haq a straightforward catch.Pakistan A players celebrate after winning the Emerging Cup•SLCIt might as well be seen as an act of surrender for what follows. Pakistan are sharing the joy around, and they let Abrar Ahmed take over now. The wickets that fall aren’t spectacular in the same way Naseem’s are, but there is a clinical efficiency about Pakistan wrapping up the lower order, a frustrating Achilles heel in the past.Babar, often accused of captaincy by autopilot, has taken control, manipulating both the field and the bowling changes with impressive, calculating guile. Dhananjaya de Silva picks out a man stationed exactly for the pull shot that sees him hole out to Saud Shakeel. Prabath Jayasuriya takes on Masood again; he presumably missed the early part of the innings. And to round off, Ramesh Mendis holes out to Shakeel in a similar way to de Silva.There’s still a session to go, and Pakistan aren’t done keeping their foot on the pedal. They shake off an early Imam dismissal. Abdullah Shafique and Masood, starved for runs, go about accumulating them at breathtaking speed, hitting the seamers out of the attack before clobbering Mendis and Jayasuriya over the top. Masood was particularly aggrieved last week when on the harsh end of a Hawk Eye call he thought should have gone the other way. Today, he’s caught dead in front, but the umpire can’t see it, and Sri Lanka somehow fail to review.Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. It’s a backhanded compliment that’s hung around Masood for much of his career, but today, he shows he can be both. It is him, in particular, who gives the spinners no hiding place, plundering them for 30 runs off 28 balls as Pakistan bring up a 103-ball hundred, the fastest first-innings hundred for them since records began. Masood, turns out, can do more than just a bit of batting. His half-century, a first in 17 innings, comes in just 44 balls. Shafique, too, combines luck and quality, surviving a dropped catch and an lbw shout as he brings up his first half-century in 12 innings.There is nothing that isn’t working for Pakistan, and by the time the sun sets, they’re within touching distance of Sri Lanka’s score. They will move into the lead early tomorrow, and, on the evidence of this, gallop over the hills and far out of sight.That, at least, is what The Pakistan Way would have you believe. No one quite knows what it is, and it’s a term that may always lack a clear definition. But over the past 24 hours, there was a glorious little glimmer of what it might yet become

And has anyone scored as many runs at a higher strike rate than Heinrich Klaasen in ODI?

Steven Lynch19-Sep-2023Was Sri Lanka’s total of 50 the other day the lowest in an international final? asked Vivek Naik from India

Sri Lanka’s collapse to 50 all out in the Asia Cup final in Colombo last weekend was indeed the lowest all-out total in any major international final, undercutting India’s 54 in the Champions Trophy final against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in October 2000. There have been only nine lower all-out totals in all one-day internationals.The lowest in the 50-over World Cup final is 132, by Pakistan against Australia at Lord’s in 1999. West Indies managed only 140 when they famously lost the 1983 final to India, also at Lord’s.The lowest in the final of a T20I tournament is Ireland’s 71 against Afghanistan in the Desert Challenge tournament in Dubai in January 2017. The lowest in the T20 World Cup final is Sri Lanka’s 101 against West Indies in Colombo in October 2012.Heinrich Klaasen blitzed 174 at a strike rate of 209 last week. Has anyone made more runs in an ODI more quickly? asked Nick van Vuuren from South Africa

That brutal knock by South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen against Australia in Centurion the other day brought him 174 from 83 balls, at a strike rate of 209.63.No one has scored more runs at a faster rate in one-day internationals: Shane Watson clattered 185 not out from 96 balls – a strike rate of 192.70 – for Australia against Bangladesh in Mirpur in April 2011.The only innings over 150 in ODIs that came at a faster rate than Klaasen managed were two cases of 162 not out – by AB de Villiers from 66 balls (strike rate 245.45) for South Africa against West Indies during the 2015 World Cup in Sydney, and by Jos Buttler in 70 balls – a strike rate of 231.42 – for England against Netherlands in Amstelveen in June 2022.If we look at all ODI innings of 100 or more , de Villiers leads the way with the astonishing strike rate of 338.63 during his 149 from just 44 balls against West Indies in Johannesburg in January 2015. He came in during the 39th over, and was out in the 50th, after smashing 16 sixes and nine fours.Adam Zampa conceded 113 runs in the high-scoring ODI at Centurion. Was this a record? asked Billy McAlpine from Australia

The Australian legspinner Adam Zampa’s forgettable day against South Africa in Centurion last week – rounded off by a tenth over that cost 26 – left him sharing top spot in the list of most runs conceded in a one-day international innings. Zampa matched another Australian, seamer Mick Lewis, who also went for 113 in the famous 872-run match in Johannesburg in March 2006.In all, there have now been 16 instances of a bowler conceding 100 or more runs in a men’s ODI: the only other Australian is Andrew Tye, with 0 for 100 (from only nine overs) against England at Trent Bridge in 2018.Only Viv Richards, with 189, has a higher score from No. 4 or lower in an ODI than Ben Stokes’ 182•PA PhotosWas Ben Stokes’ 182 against New Zealand the highest score from No. 4 or lower in a one-day international? asked Jeremy Newman from England

In a high-scoring few days for international cricket, Ben Stokes clattered 182 against New Zealand at The Oval on September 13. The only higher score from No. 4 in any ODI is Viv Richards’ 189 not out for West Indies against England at Old Trafford in 1984, in an innings that lasted 55 overs.Ross Taylor made 181 not out for New Zealand vs England in Dunedin in 2017-18, and Richards also battered 181 against Sri Lanka in Karachi during the 1987 World Cup. For the list of the highest ODI scores from No. 4 and below, click here.Stokes’ 182 was the highest for England in an ODI, beating Jason Roy’s 180 against Australia in Melbourne in 2017-18.A recent column here mentioned a Sussex player with seven forenames, but my county Northamptonshire also had a multi-initialled man a few years ago. Sadly I’ve forgotten his name! What was it? asked Ted Richardson from Northampton

You’re probably allowed to have forgotten him, because George Arthur Adam Septimus Carter Trenchard Sale Pennington played for Northamptonshire nearly a century ago, in 1927. He played 12 matches that season as a batter, with his highest score of 47 coming on debut, against Glamorgan in Northampton.The son of a vicar, Pennington was also a talented rugby player. He served in the Royal Naval Air Service (the forerunner of the Royal Air Force) during the First World War, and is said to have sunk a German submarine in the Mediterranean Sea. He continued flying after the war, but was only 34 when he died in September 1933, after the aircraft he was piloting crashed on take-off near Doncaster in Yorkshire. His six passengers, who included the famous jockey Gordon Richards, escaped with minor injuries.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Cold swims and close family, complemented by a happy dressing room on the same page, have seen 36-year old Sean Williams hit a purple patch

Firdose Moonda23-Jun-2023With midday temperatures in the upper 20s, Zimbabwe in June is no-one’s idea of winter. But when Sean Williams gets into the swimming pool at 6am each morning, that’s the season he experiences, all year round.”A lot of people don’t like the cold but once you get in it and you’ve done it for a while, it’s almost something you can’t do without,” Williams told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s basically about learning not to fight the situation. If you fight the cold water, you are going to feel the cold. But if you keep still, concentrate on your breathing and just relax and take it easy, you can be there for a while.”This has been Williams’ approach to life over the last 18 months, a period of time in which he lost his father Ray to cancer and welcomed his second daughter, Rylee-Rae (named in honour of her grandfather) into the world. The juxtaposition of these two life-altering events made Williams realise the importance of persistence in moments when things get tough. “Quite often I will get agitated and frustrated and a situation will get the better of me. Learning how to breathe and control and just be calm is something I have been practicing quite a bit of,” he said.Related

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As it happens, the ability to show staying power is what Zimbabwe’s coach Dave Houghton identified as the main thing for Williams to focus on ahead of the Qualifiers. Houghton called Williams “the most talented” batter in his squad because of the ease at which he gets starts but also the one who could then play a rash stroke and be dismissed. So far, not so.Williams scored what was then the fastest hundred for Zimbabwe, off 70 balls, in their chase of 291 against Nepal in their tournament opener last Sunday and followed it up with 91 in their third-highest successful chase of all time, against Netherlands. He still doesn’t waste time when he gets to the crease: he was 15 off 13 balls against Nepal and 17 off 10 against Netherlands, but he picks his shots with more precision.”We are trying to be a lot more positive and a lot less reckless. There’s quite a big difference between the two,” Williams said.The proof is in the game plans. Against Nepal, he watched offspinner Rohit Paudel’s flight before he judged that he could take it on; against Netherlands, he worked left-arm spinner Clayton Floyd around before going for the big shot. In both instances, he could rely on a middle and lower order that are in form, equally unafraid and have been empowered to handle tricky match situations.”Sometimes, previously, we were told what to do. Now, we’ve been taught how to think for ourselves and make decisions. We don’t have to send a message out onto the field anymore because the guys are seeing for themselves what to do,” Williams said.That’s all part of a culture of change that has come under Houghton, who has championed a more mature style of player management. “There’s a lot of thought that goes in and measured decisions made for the players around family time or taking a break,” Williams said. “For example, Sikandar Raza had come back from the IPL and management said you’re important to us so you should go home for a few days before the qualifiers. We’d rather see you not tired because you are valuable. That makes a huge difference.”Sean Williams walks out with his daughter, Charlotte, ahead of his 150th ODI game•ICC/Getty ImagesAnd it paid off. Against Netherlands, Raza broke the record Williams set in the previous game and smashed a century off 54 balls. Was Williams, who was dismissed for 91 off 58 balls, a little annoyed that Raza had broken his record? “No, not at all.””I had an opportunity to do it myself and if I had, Raza might not have had the opportunity to do so. The biggest thing for me at the end of the day is all as we are winning.”For now, Zimbabwe are doing exactly that. With two big wins from their opening two games, they are all but into the Super Sixes. Three teams from each group advances and carries the points and the net run-rate from the teams who progress with them from the first round.That makes Zimbabwe’s match against West Indies on Saturday vitally important. The winner of that game will likely take the most points into the next stage, where they are highly likely to face a clinical Sri Lankan side, a plucky Scotland team – who Zimbabwe tied with in the 2018 edition – and one of Oman, Ireland or the UAE and Williams is wary of them all.”Every team in the tournament has got a very good squad but those you have to watch out for are the ones who have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I find those teams dangerous,” he said.Williams has first hand experience of what teams like that can do. He was part of the XI that lost to UAE five years ago and that slip up cost them their World Cup place. After that heartbreak, reaching the World Cup this time would be both a balm and a boon for this Zimbabwean side.It would show they have properly moved on from the team they were five years ago and the World Cup participation fee is substantial, especially for players living through some of the worst hyperinflation in the world. But Williams will not allow himself to look that far ahead right now.”We can’t do that,” he said. “We’re focusing on our environment right now. It’s relaxed, which gives us freedom to play but that freedom also gives you responsibility – that responsibility of being professional, doing the right things and staying in the moment. If we can continue doing the things we are doing now well, and improve in certain areas, we can do well in this tournament.”For Williams, the memories he has made so far at this competition could well be career-defining. His century came in his 150th ODI with his mom Patricia, his wife Chantelle and his daughters Charlotte and Rylee-Rae in attendance. “It was just wow. One hell of a day. The perfect day,” he said.It was also Father’s Day and he dedicated the hundred to Ray, and celebrated it with his children. “It went from being an emotional day to a happy day and if there was one day of cricket I will remember, it will be that one,” he said. “Having my kids here has been helpful for me because I am not on my phone as much. I am trying to spend more time with them and they take me away from things I don’t need to worry about. They help me to stay in the moment.”Them, and the cold water, has got Williams, who is now 36, thinking about the cricketing legacy he’d want to leave behind. “I’d like to leave the Zimbabwe Cricket shirt in a better place than what I found it. And that’s something you can’t do alone. We are all contributing, and learning and growing along the way.”

With Sri Lanka inching towards victory, he bowled a searing spell where every ball seemed to have the batter’s name

Shashank Kishore12-Sep-20231:57

Maharoof: ‘Hardik’s fitness very crucial for India going into the World Cup’

It was one of those games where the scorecard may not entirely reveal the impact Hardik Pandya had with the ball on the overall result. His figures read 5-0-14-1, which while being very impressive were not quite the blockbuster of the kind you saw from 20-year-old left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage (5-40) or Kuldeep Yadav (4-43).Yet, they left an indelible mark on India’s spirited defence of 214 on a surface where the ball was gripping, turning square, keeping a tad low at times, and, in general, playing up and down enough to have batters between the devil and the deep blue sea. One moment they were thinking patience was the order of the day, and that you needed to tread with caution like KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan did in a superb exhibition of batting against spin during their 63-run stand that led India’s revival after three quick strikes.Next, when they were seeing spinners come on and challenge both edges of the bat, as Wellalage did by simply sticking to a wicket-to-wicket line and varying his flight and angles, you couldn’t help but think it’s best to try to play your shots before a ball has your name on it. How batters from both sides tackled this dilemma made for compelling viewing. And it’s amid this that Hardik truly stood out with his fire and intensity, a compliment that has largely been reserved for his batting, and captaincy to a large extent, in the past.Related

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It’s no secret India have longed for Hardik to bowl in this manner for a while and have done everything possible, even having him wrapped in cotton wool, precisely for this kind of impact. For starters, this certainly allows India dynamism in the selection, as you saw on Tuesday with them fielding a third specialist spinner in Axar Patel to support Kuldeep and Ravindra Jadeja. Sure, the conditions did help spin but even if they don’t to the extent they did here, India are in a position to think flexibility and batting depth and have Hardik play the role of a third seamer, and not a bits-and-parts bowler who can merely hold an end up.Hardik’s intensity really helped India, especially when for a while it looked as if they were just running out of gas when Dhananjaya de Silva and Wellalage threatened a jailbreak. It’s no rocket science, but on raging turners of the kind, invariably the ones that don’t turn are more dangerous more often than not. But such pitches can over-excite spinners to some extent, and it seemed to be the case for a while with Jadeja and Axar.Hardik Pandya bowled quite impressively on the day•AFP/Getty ImagesIt was at this point that Hardik stepped in and bowled a searing spell where every ball seemed to have the batter’s name. Hard lengths, nip off the pitch, bounce, landing it with an upright seam to have the batter nicking – he did it all, and with a disarming smile that told you he knew he was in top gear. All of these variations were married with deadly accuracy. He was consistently touching 140kph, hitting high on the bat and having the lower order dancing to his tunes.At mid-on, Rohit Sharma, who was just beginning to lose his patience, was finally able to afford a smile that turned into full-blown laughter when Hardik finally picked up his first wicket, the eighth of the innings, with Maheesh Theekshana splicing one to a diving Suryakumar Yadav at mid-on. Suddenly Sri Lanka needed 43 off 55 with two wickets in hand.Only a while earlier, Hardik had begun that spell with Sri Lanka needing 62 from 16 overs with two set batters in Dhananjaya and Wellalage at the crease. So it wasn’t like he was gifted it on a platter. But in sussing out conditions quickly and delivering a telling spell in which he slowly gnawed at the batters, not necessarily bombing them with thunderbolts, he gave them a good work over that eventually got them thinking a reasonable risk against the spinners was worth punting on. This proved to be Dhananjaya’s undoing when he tried to hit Jadeja against the turn but was caught at mid-on. Four overs later, the game was nearly sealed.Hardik’s was one of those efforts where the supporting actor earned as many plaudits as the hero who everyone expects to deliver a blockbuster. For India, those heroes were Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav, who were at the forefront of yet another stunning show to go with their impact against Pakistan 24 hours earlier. Hardik, though, wasn’t to be denied. He had swiftly moved from being a tortoise to the hare, which he quite wasn’t even until as late as July.With the World Cup less than a month away, it couldn’t have been shaping up any better for him, and India.

The track at Newlands, and the cricket it produced, was like something from the 1800s, leading to mayhem in the middle and exaggeration in the analysis

Mark Nicholas05-Jan-2024What is a bad pitch? One that favours batters so heavily that it results in a five-day draw? Or one that favours bowlers of a particular type and finishes in 107 overs?What is bad batting? Is it technical – as in poor footwork, playing around the front pad, going hard at the ball – or is it poor shot selection?What is good bowling? Hitting “the right areas” on pitches where the ball moves laterally or, worse still, bounces unevenly? Or swinging/spinning the ball on pitches that offer little help to such skills?Related

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Neither Barry Richards, a wonderfully gifted batter from an age long past, nor Dean Elgar, one from the modern era and less gifted but no less committed, were prepared to call out the same Newlands pitch that a very great South African golfer, whose love of cricket goes back to a childhood hitting as many cricket balls as golf balls, called “shocking”.Rohit Sharma said he didn’t mind playing on such seam-friendly surfaces so long as pitches in India were were not marked down for being spin-friendly. In fact, Rohit almost admitted to enjoying the challenge. Virat Kohli fairly revelled in the contest at both Supersport Park and Newlands, reckoning that he batted about as well as he can do. Elgar at the former and Aiden Markram at the latter played the innings of their lives.Cricket is a multifaceted game. One day is rarely, if ever, the same as the last or the next. Cricket takes all sorts, sizes and shapes, and will frustrate as often as it will fulfil. It follows no rules, only the laws by which it is regulated, and the consequence is that in games that are not limited by the overs each side receives, there is no telling what will happen or how long it will last. I helped friends with tickets for the third day at Newlands but they didn’t get close to seeing a ball bowled live. “What the hell sort of a wicket was that???” WhatsApped one of them. A belter for Markram, I replied.Cricket is the most artistic of all games. It is frequently difficult and frustrating but even the most prosaic of players can give pleasure with a mighty strike, an unlikely wicket or a brilliant catch. It has mainly instinctive skills and yet relies on method for excellence. Batting pleases the eye because it is a thing of straight lines that is subject to angles and dimensions. This feels like an accident but it is in the interpretation.

We might, in hindsight, call these psychological pitches; ones that required the right mindset both in preparation and at the moment of performance. For a batter to fear the worst was to invite failure; for a bowler to assume the best was to invite hubris

Above all, batting is fragile. One minute you have it, the next it is gone. A single ball will undo hours, days, weeks of preparation. For sure, batting – cricket indeed – is not to be trusted. Ask Elgar and ask Marco Jansen about bowling. At the halfway stage of the World Cup, he had the ball on a string before he was blasted all around Eden Gardens and he suddenly couldn’t land it on the cut bit. During these two Test matches against India he has resorted to bowling round the wicket and trying to stick to a fullish line outside the off stump. For conviction, he has explored limitation. Only late in the denouement yesterday, when there was nothing but crumbs left to play for, did he let go and watch the red ball fly again. In short, the fear of failure was nowhere to be seen and almost by magic, his rhythm returned.Cricket is a game played out on the edge of nerves. It examines character, explores personality and exposes vulnerabilities. A man – Markram, say – scores nothing one day and a hundred the next. This is wicked, it is unkind, but it is tempting and it is exhilarating. Raise your bat once and you will ache to do so again.The art of cricket is a beautiful journey and a beautiful result. This beauty holds its place in our heart even at a time when all roads point to change. It is why there is an immense responsibility as we search to modernise a game that has its roots in the past. After all, it is the roots that define it.My view is that this was a poor pitch because it was too heavily weighted in favour of fast bowling. The key to the game is a fair pitch that gives every player hope. It looked odd, as if the plate-like cracks had been glued together by a different make and colour of grass from the one elsewhere on the surface. From these, and from the indentations created when the ball pitched, came the sideways movement, uneven pace and unpredictable bounce. I would mark it down for this but I would not condemn.The pitch in Centurion was no sinecure either. India, a side rammed with exceptional batters, were bowled for 131 in the third innings and lost the match by a mile. A lot of the cricket played in both matches was ordinary and sometimes worse. A lot of the rest that was played was very good, even thrilling. The matches swung in quality like few I have seen, and yet, in the main, the best players commanded the best results. We might, in hindsight, call these psychological pitches; ones that required the right mindset both in preparation and at the moment of performance. For a batter to fear the worst was to invite failure; for a bowler to assume the best was to invite hubris.2:05

Sanjay Manjrekar: ‘No malice intended in pitches for this series’

In truth, incredible things happened that had everyone talking – 55 all out and six wickets without a run being scored the most notable – and still we could celebrate fine batting and the craftwork in seam and swing bowling. Athletic catches were taken in the slips and the crowd rose to its feet on numerous occasions to raucously celebrate the many striking events they were fortunate to witness with their own eyes. Indeed, had you put aside just two days to watch Test cricket and these were them, you’d think it was quite some show. After all, few modern batters boast techniques as good as Kohli and KL Rahul, or strokeplay as eye-catching as Rohit and Markram. Few modern fast bowlers come close to Kagiso Rabada and Jasprit Bumrah.It’s just that it all happened so quickly. It was like when it all began in the late 1800s and the pitches were usually not much good and always uncovered and the bats were planks and techniques were being worked out at origin and bowlers fizzed the ball from their fingers with little pace but plenty of cut and they homed in a length so difficult to play that WG Grace averaged 32 with the bat and Sydney Barnes 16 with the ball. There you go! Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.So I’m inclined to call this a one-off. I don’t think it was a South African plot to have such surfaces, only that the coach might have requested a little grass to give encouragement to the quicks. Given the track the grass lay upon, this led to mayhem. Such extremes – and especially those on the scoreboard – lead to exaggeration in the analysis.I’m moved to say that cricket can be anything, and yes, in general we want better pitches for a longer Test match game and a greater range of skills to show their face. But we also want the players to react to the challenges of nature and nurture with equal relish and to accept, without rancour, that nothing is perfect and nor will it be. Only that cricket lives on at Test level for the very reason that days like these past five in South Africa surprise, amaze and amuse us. And that best of all, cricket is the talk of the town.

It was a day for Indian batting royalty at the Wankhede, with the captain leading the charge

Osman Samiuddin15-Nov-20232:22

Rohit’s start reminds Hayden of Gilchrist in 2003 World Cup final

Admit it. This is not the article you came to read. The one you came to read is here. That’s where you can celebrate the current king of Indian batting breaking the record of the last king of Indian batting, in front of the old king, in the old king’s home city no less, in the spiritual home of Indian cricket no less. It’s not so much a baton being passed, or even a coronation, as much as the Platinum Jubilee Celebration of Indian Batting Royalty (and here you were thinking this was a World Cup semi-final lol).This is the moment to ask yourself why you clicked here and chose to spend this bit of your life not in that celebration?Well, I’ll tell you why. Because Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer and the Mumbai School of Batting. For those readers too young to know (or care) about the Mumbai School of Batting, brief Cliffs Notes: solid defensive technique, meditative levels of concentration, preservation of wicket more important than scoring runs (). Also Cliffs Note: that school’s dead.Related

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It was dying when Rohit came through, though ghosts still lingered. He was spotted by Dilip Vengsarkar, an alumnus. He had – still has – the technique purists can sleep easy with. But in those early days they used to raise eyebrows over how he’d invariably give his wicket away with some carelessly attacking shot and those things were banned in that school. Those shots, they fretted, were the final nails in the coffin of that tradition of batsmanship.In one sense since, it could be argued that Rohit’s career has actually played out in a way that makes him a fitting graduate, the last one maybe. He has blossomed into a secure Test opener, scoring his first away hundred in cloudy, swingy, seamy England. Even his white-ball career carried the basic ethos of that tradition, not shedding the impulses entirely just smoothing their edges. Get through powerplays, protect wicket, build assiduously, then take off. Bat long, bat big, be greedy, be selfish.After which, finally, is the real point of this: that this late-career transformation for Rohit has not stopped feeling remarkable since it began. Think about this. A batter from the end of a tradition in which keeping your wicket intact is a non-negotiable, chided early for not doing so, becomes a fairly ruthless and calculated run glutton, before convincing himself nearly two decades later that everything he has learnt is wrong and has to be unlearnt; that self-preservation is over-rated and sub-optimal; that attacking intent percentages are >>> than control percentages.Look at his scores in this tournament. One hundred – not a daddy – a couple of 80s and four innings between 40 and 48. That’s a rolling troll of a campaign, of all those people who harp on about conversions, of turning starts into scores, runs into landmarks and landmarks into skyscrapers. It’s fair to assume Rohit was one of those guys until recently.Rohit Sharma set the tone in the powerplay once again•Getty ImagesAnd it’s been exhilarating to watch, arguably never more than at the Wankhede, when something very real was at stake, where the cost of failure, of getting out skewering a shot on 47 high into the sky before the powerplay had ended, was about as high as it can be. This innings, this entire tournament, Rohit has batted with the carefree energy of someone quitting a crappy job, of not having to pass an exam because they already got into college, walking away from an unhealthy marriage, or becoming a committed nudist – the energy released in shedding short-term toxicity for longer-term reward.It helps to be captain, who is expected to set the tone. It helps to have a coach who has been an enabler. Not least it helps to be Rohit Sharma, to be capable of batting like this. He’s the fifth-highest run-scorer for the tournament but has the highest strike rate of the top 10; the fifth-best average in his own batting order for this tournament but easily the most impactful.It’s even starker in the first powerplay, where his record reads 354 runs (266 balls, 42×4, 21×6, strike rate 133.1) and all other India batters in that phase are 300 runs (334 balls, 46×4, 7×6, strike rate 89.8). He has hit a boundary every four balls, the others every 6.3. A record that leads even a batter such as Shubman Gill to say that he’s happy to stand at the non-striker end and watch his captain do his thing.It’s moot whether it is Rohit’s batting that has allowed others to flourish, or their presence that has encouraged him to unleash himself, because the result is the World Cup Iyer has been having. Which is to say, a spectacular one.Iyer is also a Mumbaikar, but he is definitely not of school. In fact, he is not really of any school as much as he is another gleaming product off the assembly line of modern Indian batting; a batter for whom format is incidental, who sees no colour in a ball; for whom these are merely platforms to showcase his underlying skill; a batter who broke through in the Ranji Trophy the same year he did in the IPL.2:32

‘Shreyas’ strength and magical wrists make him a handful’

He’s one of those who, in a feisty press conference the other day, can say he plays shots comfortable in the knowledge that it can cost him his wicket yet, when it comes to the long form, has shown the ability and willingness to put a price on that wicket. One of those the world might see as the very manifestation of an idea whose time has come. Of course, India has produced Shreyas Iyer. What else should the game’s richest member, with the largest talent pool and the best resources at its disposal, be producing? One of those opponents look at and wonder about the unfairness of life and an order that already has Rohit, the guy about whom you should be reading, Gill and KL Rahul. In fact, all the time you were focused on that guy you should be reading about, with all the scrutiny on that record, Iyer slipped away to simply do his own thing.When India’s scoring rate fell below seven for the first time in the day – hardly an intractable problem admittedly – soon after Gill had retired, Iyer stepped out and lofted Rachin Ravindra beyond the sight screen, before slicing him past point for a boundary.That guy went past the old guy’s single-edition record of World Cup runs with a neat single, and the next ball Iyer put Glenn Phillips into the second tier. Mitchell Santner bowled a maiden, the next over Iyer hit 11 in a 17-run over. The record was finally broken with an energetic double, and five balls later Iyer didn’t fully get to the pitch of a Ravindra ball and still hit him over long-on for six.That guy got out and next ball Iyer… I don’t, by this stage, need to tell you what he did off another Ravindra ball. And just in case you didn’t notice it amid the adulation and feels, he did it again at the end of the over.After facing four more balls he reached his own hundred, a second in consecutive World Cup games, at his home ground, the ninth-fastest of all time by an Indian and it is only second billing on the day. Probably about time, if you haven’t already, you go and read about what was the main attraction.

Against England and New Zealand, they have exposed their opponents’ flaws

Ian Chappell10-Mar-2024We’ve seen a variety of captaincy styles in the two current Test series between the best four sides in the competition, India, England, Australia and New Zealand.Rohit Sharma and Ben Stokes have waged an intriguing captaincy battle in their Test series. However Stokes’ aggressive leadership faltered at a crucial time and India – well led by Rohit – claimed the series with a resounding victory in the fourth Test in Ranchi.On the third evening Stokes desperately needed to start India’s chase with his best two bowlers and try to claim at least one wicket. Incredibly, he gave the ball to a part-timer, Joe Root, and ignored the experienced, probing bowling of Jimmy Anderson. India took full advantage and scored an invaluable 40 runs off just eight overs.Related

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Stokes missed a trick in Ranchi. He then compounded his error by allowing too many easy singles on the final day by resorting to some cautious field placings. At a time when Stokes needed to be extremely brave as captain and hope he got lucky, he was abnormally conservative.India probably would still have won but at least by going on the attack, Stokes would have given England their best chance of an upset victory. Stokes could improve his captaincy in demanding chases if he took the example of the leadership master in those situations – Pakistan’s Javed Miandad.Rohit proceeded to take full advantage of the tentative field placings with a thoughtful innings and India’s solid opening partnership helped seal victory.The second innings should have been a time to force the Indian batters into taking a risk, but by allowing easy singles, Stokes gave his opponents the upper hand. He also needed to use the experience and guile of Anderson to try and force the issue on the third evening but instead relied on the part-time spin of Root.The use of Root could probably be put down to an over-reliance on the right-left combination to get the wicket of India’s accomplished opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. There are times when good captaincy hinges on gut feel rather than statistics or theories; this was such an occasion.In Wellington a week or so ago, New Zealand captain Tim Southee lost the plot by allowing Cameron Green and batting rabbit Josh Hazlewood to amass a century stand for Australia’s last wicket. New Zealand made numerous mistakes to comfortably lose the Test but despite Green’s undoubted skill in shepherding the tail, Southee’s leadership blunder was monumental.

In both India and New Zealand some techniques have been questionable. Why do right-handers get caught at leg slip against an offspinner? In fact, why are they trying to hit the ball there when there is a leg slip in place?

Continually dropping catches has certainly hurt New Zealand but allowing a mammoth tenth-wicket partnership is an unpardonable sin. New Zealand’s feeble batting – they failed to reach 200 in either innings – called into question their tentative approach against Australia, and spoke of their inability to cope with the offspin of Nathan Lyon.The inability to battle against Australia is in sharp contrast to the New Zealand rugby team. In recent years the All Blacks have been dominant against Australia on the rugby field but the opposite is true on the cricket ground.As for playing offspin, in both India and New Zealand some techniques have been questionable. Why do right-handers get caught at leg slip against an offspinner? In fact, why are they trying to hit the ball there when there is a leg slip in place? American baseballer “Wee” Willie Keeler’s credo of “Hit ’em where they ain’t” is equally applicable to cricket.In the final Test in India, England again capitulated to spin – this time it was the wrist version, from the talented Kuldeep Yadav, who broke open England’s vulnerable batting order while R Ashwin plundered the bottom half as offspin was again dominant.India have been getting stronger in this series, while England are regularly being overwhelmed by spin. They’re fortunate it’s the final Test. Meanwhile, in Christchurch, New Zealand’s capitulation continued; they slumped to a third consecutive score below 200, this time at the hands of Australia’s excellent fast bowlers.Despite all the feel-good stories and bold predictions, India and Australia are still flexing their muscles as dominant teams.