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Stats and milestones from the second ODI between England and Pakistan at Lord’s

Bharath Seervi27-Aug-201610-1 England’s win-loss record against Pakistan in their last 11 ODIs. Their only loss in this sequence was in Abu Dhabi last year. Since then, they have won five in a row against Pakistan.4 Consecutive fifties for Joe Root in ODIs. Before his 89 in this match, he had scored 65, 93 and 61 in the last three ODIs. This was his third consecutive fifty against Pakistan. He has aggregated 672 runs in ODIs this year – the second-most by any batsman.12 Innings without a fifty for Eoin Morgan before making 68 in this game. His last fifty had also came against Pakistan – 76 in Abu Dhabi last year.1 Run accumulated by Pakistan’s top three batsmen in this match – lowest for any team against England. The previous lowest was three runs by Sri Lanka’s top three in Johannesburg in the 2009 Champions Trophy.2011 Last time England’s opening bowlers both took three or more wickets in an ODI innings – against Australia in Hobart. Mark Wood took 3 for 46 and Chris Woakes took 3 for 42 in this game. The last time England achieved such a feat at home was also against Pakistan, at The Oval in 2010. This was overall the tenth such instance for England.1/25 Wood’s previous best figures in ODIs before his three-for in this match. In his previous eight ODIs, Wood had never taken more than one wicket but had gone wicketless only twice.0 Previous instances of a team having single-digit stands for the first three wickets and then adding fifty-plus runs for each of the next three wickets in an ODI innings. Pakistan’s first three partnerships were 2, 0 and 0 while the next three were 64, 59 and 77.88 Previous highest score by a Pakistan batsman in ODIs at Lord’s, by Mohammad Yousuf against Australia in 2004. Sarfraz Ahmed became the first Pakistan batsman to score an ODI century at Lord’s.5 Centuries by wicketkeepers against England in England in ODIs. Sarfraz’s 105 is the fifth such knock. Kumar Sangakkara made two centuries as a keeper while Adam Gilchrist and Tim Paine scored one each. The previous highest score by a Pakistan wicketkeeper in England was 74 by Kamran Akmal at Headingley in 2010.2 Team score at which Sarfraz came in at No. 5 and made a century – the lowest such instance in ODIs. The previous lowest score at which a No. 5 made a hundred was Yuvraj Singh, who came in at score of 5 for 3 and scored 115 against South Africa in Hyderabad in 2005-06.61 Previous highest score for Imad Wasim in ODIs. He bettered it with an unbeaten 63 in this match, which is his sixth ODI innings. He hasn’t passed 20 in the other four innings of his career.

Plays of the day from the second T20I between New Zealand and Bangaldesh in Mount Maunganui

Mohammad Isam06-Jan-2017The missed trickColin Munro went after the Bangladesh bowlers from the first over, and it quickly became apparent that he was standing outside the crease and walking all over the place to make room for almost every delivery. In the third over, he swung and missed against Mashrafe Mortaza before wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan attempted to run him out with an underarm throw.Later in the same over, Munro collected a big six over midwicket and a four over third man, none of which was hit with his feet inside the crease. So if Hasan had realised that Munro was venturing outside his crease frequently, why did he not stand up to the stumps to keep the batsman in the crease?The one that stood outMunro struck some amazing blows during his 101, but the first six off Mahmudullah in his 28-run over stood out. Off a delivery that had little pace, Munro reverse-slapped over short third man, and sent the ball into the grassbanks. It was a big hit, and his brute power easily stood out. Two balls later, he hit another six with a switch hit, but that was more of a slog. The first one took the crown.The dreaded full tossSabbir Rahman rued getting out to a full toss in the first T20, so when Colin de Grandhomme laid another one at him in the fourth over, he was angry at not being able to clear the in-field. Even as Sabbir chastised himself upon seeing Kane Williamson stop his push to cover, Tamim was halfway down when Sabbir noticed and sent him back. Williamson’s throw reached the bowler, who fumbled initially. But de Grandhomme eventually completed the run-out and the full toss had yielded a wicket again.The gambleAfter Ish Sodhi had conceded 16 off his first over, Kane Williamson would have been forgiven for taking him out of the attack. But Williamson brought him back, in the 13th over. Sodhi bowled a poor wide delivery, but took out Sabbir Rahman with his next ball. And with the over costing just two, the gamble had paid off handsomely.The timely breakWilliamson brought himself into the attack in the eighth over of the chase and worked his way through the middle overs. The gamble paid off when Williamson removed Mosaddek Hossain in his third over. The batsman pulled in the air, and Mitchell Santner ran hard to his right, then dived full-length to complete a superb catch.

A team of Pakistani engineers has developed a wearable piece of technology that measures elbow flex in bowlers in real time

Ahmer Naqvi30-Jan-20171:58

CricFlex tests bowling actions at a club in Lahore

Of all the anachronisms that bedevil cricket, none has been as perplexing as the issue of chucking or, with more political correctness, bowling with illegal actions. For much of cricket’s history, the rule on the village green was the same as that in international matches – the umpire used the naked eye to determine if an action was illegal.The emergence of Muttiah Muralitharan, and the discovery early this century that nearly all bowlers had some amount of kink in their actions, belatedly brought science into the equation. The decision to use technology, to rely on biomechanical analysis recorded in labs, arrived from the desire to make things fairer, but it has also made things more confusing.In a article on the question of determining the legality of bowling actions, Osman Samiuddin concluded by saying that the approach to it was “as if cricket’s toes are partially dipped into the ocean of science and there is a great wave approaching”.We might not be seeing the wave just yet, but perhaps cricket is about to get more than its toes wet. A group of young Pakistani engineers claims to have developed a wearable technology that can measure the elbow flex in an action in real time, and so could potentially be used in match play. CricFlex, as the product is known, consists of small motion sensors (of the sort used in phones for orienting maps) attached to a sleeve that a bowler can wear. The device sends its readings to an app, either on a mobile phone or a computer, immediately after the bowler has delivered.While the tested bowlers didn’t find the arm sleeve restrictive, they were all bothered by the thought that they might be flexing their elbows while bowling•CricFlexThe team has published a research paper on the technology used, which was accepted at an MIT conference in 2015. They have also patented the technology in the US. But the device is still a prototype, and requires further testing. The patent affords it a degree of validity, and their work has been acknowledged by a leading biomechanist. They are now seeking formal validation testing from a biomechanics lab. They are likely to use the facilities at LUMS (Lahore University of Management Sciences), where the PCB has set up such a lab. Validation testing is ultimately what will provide the truest measure of how accurate such a product is – when its readings go up, for example, against the results of a marker-based system in a lab environment.In January the CricFlex team tested the device with the Yuslim Cricket Club in Lahore. The prototype used by the CricFlex team comprised a generic sleeve made of the dri-fit material that is used in athletic apparel, and ran from mid-bicep to mid-forearm. A coin-sized sensor was attached near (but not on) the elbow joint, and the entire apparatus was largely unobtrusive; none of the bowlers tested complained of any interference in their movements as they bowled.Each bowler was asked to wear a sleeve and then hold their arm in three positions – stretched out straight, bent at 45 degrees and then at 90 degrees. This allowed the device to orient itself to the particular bowler. The non-invasive nature of the set-up meant that the bowler could bowl normally, and the app showed the readings the second they delivered the ball.But once we began, the stigmatising pressure of the process began to show. Several bowlers lost their lengths under trial, often delivering full tosses. Once they saw their readings, though, they would relax. However, a new concern soon cropped up, which highlighted how little bowlers at this grade understood the 15-degree rule. Some of them began to worry about readings like five degrees of flex, asking their coaches how they could bring it down to zero.CricFlexIndeed, that is the reality that grass-roots bowlers face – the fear of even a hint of kink in their actions. At this level, conditions such as hyperextension will not be picked up, and instead a bowler will more often be branded as having an illegal action than not. That will affect their prospects of progressing further up. Since the ICC crackdown two years ago, and right after it took its highest-profile victim, Saeed Ajmal, the PCB suspended a further 16 bowlers on the domestic circuit whose actions were reported to be illegal. At this level there are many stories among local cricketers of overzealous officials targeting one bowler or another.Abdullah Ahmed, CricFlex’s team leader, said Ajmal’s ban was what spurred him and two others – Muhammad Jazib Khan and Muhammad Asawal – to develop the sleeve. It began life as a semester project at NUST (National University of Sciences and Technology), a top engineering university in Islamabad. The team – all software or electrical engineers – has now grown to five.They told ESPNcricinfo that their main purpose was to make their technology accessible at the grassroots level. The estimated cost of one of their sleeves is around US$300, which is far more affordable and less cumbersome than sending a club player to a biomechanics lab for testing his action. CricFlex’s ambitions, however, are not limited to just this level. “The ultimate goal,” says Ahmed, “is to implement this [technology] within live matches.”Real-time testing, within a match, is cricket’s final frontier. During its latest cleanse of illegal actions, the ICC worked with Griffith University in Brisbane to develop a sensor that bowlers could wear on the field, which would deliver instant readings. They trialled it on bowlers in nets at the Under-19 World Cup in the UAE in 2014. That experiment seemed to have overcome early problems with the calibration of the devices (once a bowler dives in the field, for instance, will the device need to be recalibrated?) but ultimately, burgeoning costs meant the project was not continued. Another university in Australia has developed a wearable inertial sensor system capable of measuring elbow extension during the bowling action; it has undergone validation testing and is currently in the process of being commercialised.And this is where the potential of CricFlex’s technology might really bear fruit, because apart from measuring the degree of flex, it also provides other fascinating data for coaches and analysts. As it stands, the device provides four readings on each delivery. Apart from the degree of elbow flex, it also measures arm speed, and what it calls arm twist and arm force. Arm twist is a measurement of the rotation in a spinner’s forearm as they deliver; the latter is a measure of the effort a bowler puts in, in Newtons. These readings can provide valuable data on the levels of fatigue for the bowlers, their effectiveness for different variations, and insights on subtle changes in their actions across a spell or a match.The USP of the sleeve technology lies in its simplicity•CricFlexCricFlex’s simplicity is appealing. The bowler wears the sleeve, which is then calibrated using a simple two-step process. When they bowl, the four data points show up instantaneously on the mobile, on a simple interface. All this means that some basic instructions would suffice in getting someone to start using the device.The potential impact is significant. Since actions are generally not tested for all but the bowlers at the highest levels, many now look to take extreme caution with suspect actions. A technology like CricFlex, however, might allow club and academy officials to come to far more rational decisions quicker.There is still some time before CricFlex can hope to come into common use, though. During the testing, the coaches sent in two young boys who both bowled offspin. They expressed their doubts about the action of one, but were very confident about the other. The boy whose action they suspected started off with a flurry of full tosses before eventually settling down. His action came in under five degrees of flex, and the coaches were surprised. They then looked forward to the other bowler, but were left aghast by his first reading – 35 degrees.Abdullah and his team quickly diagnosed the problem. The bowler had a small trigger movement with his arms before bowling, similar to what R Ashwin has in his action. The device was reading the flex in the trigger movement rather than the action. CricFlex say that using one device across many bowlers would cause such issues, and they are using such tests to determine how to fine-tune their readings. They aim to eventually make highly customised sleeves, where the sensors are precisely calibrated according to an individual bowler’s idiosyncrasies.Like all exciting technologies, one of the things that struck me about this device was why it hadn’t been invented earlier. The ingenuity of it lay in its simplicity, and its applications beyond measuring elbow extension are where its potential impact lies. Rather than worrying about bowling actions, analysts and coaches can now begin to fine-tune strategies and skills, learning how to best utilise the unique abilities of each bowler. In a few years, that wave of technological advancement could well be crashing all around the sport.

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

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

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

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

India have played in front of the two previous sellout crowds at the World Cup, but the final at a packed Lord’s will be a whole new experience

Firdose Moonda21-Jul-20171:11

‘I wanted to quit after 2009 World Cup’ – Raj

The first time Mithali Raj played in a World Cup final, a dozen years ago, she is pretty sure almost no-one was watching.”Hardly anybody knew India have qualified for the finals. They were all too involved in men’s cricket. The match wasn’t even televised,” she remembered.The second time, now, she is quite sure everyone or at least everyone one who wants to and can, will be watching. “This World Cup is completely different to the other editions because it has given scope for the players to increase their profile as well as promote women’s cricket on a larger scale. And it’s also an opportunity for the Indian team to make it big in India,” she said. “Everybody will be glued to the television on Sunday. If we can pull it off, there will be nothing like it. It will help the future of women’s cricket. All the women cricketers back in India who even think of making it a career will always be thankful to this bunch of players for giving it that platform.”**Raj started this campaign, her fifth, on the front foot. Asked at the tournament’s opening dinner who her favourite male cricketer was, with the caveat that she had to choose from either the Indian or Pakistani team, she shot back in response.”Do you ask the same question to a male cricketer? I have always been asked who’s your favourite cricketer but you should ask them who their favourite female cricketer is.”She went on to explain that India’s female cricketers still have “a lot of catch-up to do in terms of recognition” compared to their male counterparts. Yes, even India, where the sport is often described as a religion with millions of disciples, struggle to put their female cricketers at centre-stage. This World Cup should change that. It has already started to.The opening match between England and India in Derby was sold out. There were 3,100 people in attendance. A week later, the match between India and Pakistan was sold out too. And three weeks after that, the final, also between England and India, at Lord’s is also sold out. There will be 26,500 people in attendance. That’s eight-and-a-half times the number that turned out for the first match and it’s not just a reflection of the difference in capacity between the two grounds. It is an indicator of interest.Overall, this World Cup has reported an 80% bigger audience than the previous edition with a global reach of more than 50 million people. The Indian market has been a key contributor to those numbers. Their television audience has increased by 47% since 2013 and India will be the only team to play in front of all the three full houses the tournament has had.For the first time in their careers, the Indian women understand what it’s like to be superstars. Raj said pre-tournament that the women had yet to enjoy hordes of fans or experience the hype their men have come to regard as normal. Sunday will change that and she hopes that her team understand the significance attached to being part of it. “The girls need to enjoy being in an atmosphere like that. Each one is lucky to be part of a final at Lord’s. Every cricketer dreams of playing at Lord’s because of the history. This is a big achievement,” she said.Smriti Mandhana’s form has faded since he wonderful start to the tournament but is a key part of India’s future•Getty ImagesOf course the players aren’t the only lucky ones. Those who turn up at Lord’s, or turn on their televisions, will be treated to some of the greats of the game. In Raj and Jhulan Goswami, they will see the record-holders for the most runs and most wickets in women’s ODIs, and they may well be seeing them for the last time. Raj has confirmed this will be her last World Cup and Goswami, who is the same age, is likely to be in the same position.Between them, they have put their team on the map. Now they want the younger crop to take them further, the likes of 19-year-old Deepti Sharma, 21-year old Smriti Mandhana and 24-year old Veda Krishnamurthy. All three have turned in notable performances at this tournament already – Deepti a three-for against England, Mandhana 90 against England and an unbeaten century against West Indies and Krishnamurthy a quick fifty against New Zealand.The sharing of responsibility is what has pleased Raj most about India as well as her team’s ability to dig themselves out of holes and she wants them to combine the two in the final. She’s asked her openers to try to post more runs upfront than they did against Australia, where India were 35 for 2 inside the first 10 overs. “Ideally, I want the openers to have more runs,” Raj said.And if they don’t? “It’s okay as long as the team looks very confident. If you want to be the best side in the world, you need to know how to make comebacks I can say the team knows how to make a comeback.”India had to claw their way back after successive defeats to South Africa and Australia, which put them in what was effectively a quarter-final against New Zealand. They defended 265 by routing New Zealand for 79. At this tournament, they have also defended lower scores: 169 against Pakistan and 232 against Sri Lanka, but the magic number has been 281.That was their top-score, the score they got in their first match against England and the score they posted in the semi-final against Australia. Both times it proved enough. Enough by 35 runs the first time and 36 the second. Both times it also provided two of the competition’s more entertaining games, which is what Raj wants her team to showcase when she knows everyone is watching.”It’s important when matches are televised to showcase a very good brand of cricket. That’s how we attract more people to come and watch woman’s games.”And from Sunday, there may be many many more watching the Indian team.

Fast bowler Hasan Ali on leading the Pakistan attack in the Champions Trophy, and the influence his older brother has had on the way he bowls

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi20-Jun-2017It’s almost time to break his fast. We have been chatting for half an hour. Hasan Ali is hungry. A box of cookies lies near him. Hasan refuses to look at it because he is resisting anything that has sugar in it. He will not compromise on fitness, the biggest thing he has learnt a player needs to maintain to be successful in international cricket.Almost a year since his international debut last August, Hasan has already broken many records. On Sunday, he took the final Indian wicket to signal Pakistan’s triumph in the Champions Trophy. He led the tournament’s wickets chart with 13 dismissals. Only 23 years old, Hasan, his coaches say, is well settled. Sure enough, he speaks like a leader.How did you become a fast bowler?
I started playing cricket, like many in Pakistan – in the [I had a passion]. So your brother has been the force behind your rise?
The one big moment in my young days arrived when I was 13. [older brother]. For me, he sacrificed his food, his sleep, everything.Your home town of Gujranwala is famous for producing wrestlers, not cricketers. You don’t look like a wrestler, but you also don’t look like a fast bowler with your lean physique.
I am short. Physically also, I am not imposing. During my young days, if I told people I was a fast bowler, they would not believe me. But when I bowled, they would nod their heads and say there is something in this boy. My strength has always been to work hard. – is never to be afraid of anyone. Tell yourself you are the best, have belief and stay calm. And never forget to work hard.You have even overshadowed your senior bowling partners like Mohammad Amir.
Amir bomb [It’s like a bomb that explodes as soon as I take a wicket]. I did not learn it from anyone. I just wanted to be different. I wanted people to remember me with that celebration. My hand goes down, then both hands come up and then I tilt my face upwards to thank the almighty. I started this celebration in the PSL.How has the PSL helped you skills-wise?
When I joined Peshawar Zalmi, we also had Shaun Tait in the squad. I asked him when he bowled at his fastest. He said when he was about 22. He would just head to the nets and try bowling the fastest he could.How important is bowling fast to you?
I bowl according to the conditions. Pace does not matter if you bowl at 140kph or 150kph. If you have pace, you can ally it with your skills. Recently, during the West Indies ODI series I clocked 146kph. Even in the Champions Trophy, I crossed the 140-mark a few times. It feels good when you bowl 145kph and people tell you “well done, good pace”. It boosts you.What has this first year in international cricket taught you?
The biggest and most important thing is fitness. If you are fit, you can give your 100%, otherwise you cannot. You need to focus. You need to have a plan. You need to know what you are going to bowl. You need to understand where to bowl to whom.So have your eating habits also changed?
I have almost stopped eating anything sweet. For the past few months I have not been eating rice and roti. I am eating all these disgusting things that have no taste. Now I eat mostly grilled food. Having come from a desi place, I have eaten different stuff from birth. Now, when I go home I tell ammi [mother] and bhabhi [sister-in-law] the few things I can eat.What is the biggest gift you have given your brother?
The golden ball award is for him. Also, when I won the Man-of-the-Match award against England in the semi-final, it was for him as it was his birthday the next day.

England’s inability to crack Australia’s lower-order, or shore up their own, is the biggest indicator of the gulf between the sides

Daniel Brettig in Perth17-Dec-20170:57

Australia channeling the Mitchell Johnson ‘snowball effect’

Wickets fall fast at the WACA Ground. Australia have beaten England here in two and a half days (1998), and lost to West Indies even faster than that (1993).Even in the ground’s more recent, less lively years, the extra bounce means it is still a difficult place to start an innings, often resulting in days of free and rapid scoring that are followed by sessions in which the bowlers dominate. So when Australia gave up 3 for 12 early on the fourth day it could quite easily have been expected to be followed by another three rapid wickets and the cessation of the innings.James Anderson, after all, was moving the ball through the air and off the seam, the WACA Ground’s cracks were opening up, and Australia’s bowlers were impatient to set about England’s second innings. But instead of the procession continuing in more typical WACA fashion, a crowd of 18,688 witnessed the maintenance of a theme dictated more by the nature of this Ashes contest than the locations at which it has so far been played.Pat Cummins has so far been a thorn in England’s side when batting in each first innings, and in the company of a doughty wicketkeeper in Tim Paine he was to be one again. Despite numerous balls snaking along the ground or deviating sharply off the cracks, Cummins made it to 41 in adding 93 with Paine, extending Australia’s innings until it became their highest Ashes tally since Cardiff in 2009, while also keeping England’s fielders on their feet for another 21 frustrating overs.As a batting talent, Cummins has plenty to offer, as he has now shown in numerous pressurised situations, whether it be shovelling the winning runs off Imran Tahir at the end of his storied Johannesburg debut in 2011, hitting out in a narrow loss to Bangladesh earlier this year, or repeatedly foiling England’s attempts to push further into the Australian tail. Mitchell Starc had no qualms recently in saying he was happy for Cummins to move up the order, while the bowler himself has commented this series on his strong desire to keep England’s bowlers out in the middle for extended periods, the better to aid the overall team cause.All this is indicative of a team operating in sync, as batsmen and bowlers alike see their role as making as many runs as possible while discomforting the opposition, and of a lower order enjoying the fact that those above them are making runs that mean things are not quite so hot when it is eventually their turn to bat. When looking for areas of required improvement ahead of this Ashes series, greater effectiveness from the middle order and tail was high on the list of the coach Darren Lehmann, with the displays of Shaun and then Mitchell Marsh at No. 6 aiding Paine and in turn Cummins to contribute further.However there is another side of the lower-order tale, which involves looking across at the state of England’s bowlers with the bat. Just as surely as Cummins’ confidence has grown across the series, so too has that of Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad and James Anderson ebbed away. Moeen’s difficulties in dealing with bounce have gradually compounded against both spin and speed, while Broad and Anderson have grown increasingly hesitant about spending too much time exposed to Australia’s pacemen.Pat Cummins piles into Moeen Ali’s offspin•Getty ImagesAs a younger player, Broad was very much in the Cummins mould, showing plenty of talent for shotmaking but also a willingness to hang around. His batting peaked at the age of 24 with an extraordinary innings of 169 from No. 9, the same spot occupied by Cummins, against Pakistan at Lord’s. But time, several ugly blows including a sickener from Varun Aaron in 2014, and the mental hurdle of Australia’s greater velocity have all compounded to have him looking less and less likely to pose a problem.Anderson, meanwhile, is nowhere near as capable, but has in the past been willing to hang around when required – such as at the end of the aforementioned Cardiff match in 2009 when he and Monty Panesar secured the most fortunate of draws. Yet even when asked earlier in the series about his prospects if required to help conclude an unlikely fourth-innings chase in Adelaide, Anderson could say he was only good for around 10 runs needed.The sight of Broad and Anderson flailing about at the conclusion of England’s first innings on day two was a source of considerable satisfaction for the Australians, for it proved they had once again imposed a sense of trepidation in England’s tail that outstripped any desire to hang around for the good of the team. Certainly Josh Hazlewood saw it that way, and contrasted it directly with what Cummins had been able to provide.”We work hard on our batting all the time and I think we’ve seen Patty Cummins especially this year hang around with a batter or with the tail and score some useful runs,” Hazlewood said. “We pride ourselves on that and we’ve made their tail feel very uncomfortable and they were obviously a bit sore the day before yesterday, they didn’t want to be out there and we’ll continue to use the same method we have been. We saw with Mitchell Johnson last time it just kept snowballing as the series went on, so we’ll keep continuing to do that and hopefully have the same results.”Australia had been very eager to remind both themselves and England of 2013-14 in the lead-up to this encounter, to the extent that the captain Steven Smith said he wanted to have some of the older visiting players to be thinking “oh not this again” after their difficulties four years ago. While the personnel on both sides is different, the lower-order theme has been remarkably similar, this time personified by Cummins where last time it was largely the work of Brad Haddin, now the team’s fielding coach.At the same time, England’s dressing room conversations can only be guessed at, but the recollections of Graeme Swann give some idea of how things deteriorated in terms of how other viewed the bowlers’ attitude to batting. “[Graham] Gooch had a go at me and Broady for not scoring many runs,” Swann told the BBC.”And as Stuart pointed out very succinctly, we go in at eight and nine for a reason. If we go in at 300 for 6, we’ll get you another 100 runs. If we go in at 80 for 6 and Johnson’s only bowled three overs, we’re not, mate. And that wasn’t taken well. ‘Don’t blame our batsmen, it’s your fault, you’ve got to chip in down the order’. The wheels had fallen off: who can we blame?”Add to all this the missing heft of Ben Stokes, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that England’s lower order is not just a source of trouble for the tourists, but a symptom of wider issues within. Equally, its under-perfomance relative to Australia means that the hosts are not fretting much at all about the unseasonal rain that has descended on Perth towards the end of this Test. All available evidence suggests they need only one or two breakthroughs to quickly roll up the rest, as so much WACA Ground history dictates.

A hard-fought, entertaining day of Test cricket threw up a number of talking points about England’s performance in the field

George Dobell at Trent Bridge18-Aug-20185:45

#PoliteEnquiries: How long before Rashid is Kohli’s bunny?

The tossA glance at the close of play scorecard might well lead to the conclusion that Joe Root erred in electing to bowl first. And it’s true, leaving his side the prospect of batting fourth against a top-class spinner in R Ashwin may come back to haunt him. Virat Kohli would have batted first anyway.But there was some logic in the decision. There was just a little green in the surface and, with a little cloud and a pretty strong crosswind, England must have fancied they would find some movement.Indeed they did. At times the ball jagged around alarmingly off the seam but, whereas at Edgbaston and Lord’s England’s seamers were wonderfully probing with the lines and lengths they bowled, here they were just a little short and just a little wide. Statistics showed they bowled 41 back-of-a-good-length deliveries in the first 15 overs compared to 25 at Lord’s. They also bowled six short balls in that period here whereas they didn’t bowl any at Lord’s.India deserve some credit, too. Having now had more opportunity to acclimatise to the conditions – they really didn’t give themselves much of a chance to go into this series in top form with their brief warm-up schedule – their openers were a little more compact and a little more composed.The selectionOne of the great truisms of the game is that players’ reputations often improve when they are out of the side. So here Sam Curran, somewhat controversially omitted so Ben Stokes could be brought back, was soon being talked about as a vital missing ingredient. And it’s true England’s seam attack – containing, as it does, four right-arm seamers of remarkably similar pace (there was just 1.6mph difference between the quickest average speed of the attack, Stuart Broad – at 83.4 – and the slowest – Chris Woakes, at 81.8) – might have posed different questions with a left-arm angle.Stokes didn’t look anywhere near his best, either. He started with a couple of very stiff looking long-hops and, after his first spell of seven overs cost 27, saw his second – of just two overs – cost 18 more. Gradually he began to find a bit more rhythm and produced some vast inswing, but this wasn’t the day after he had wanted after his recent experiences.But would Curran have made much difference? We will never know. He would, almost certainly, have gained movement but, on this slow surface, it is hard to say whether he would have done it with enough pace to trouble the batsmen.It’s probably wrong to frame the debate as simply Stokes v Curran, too. Perhaps, had this Test not been at Trent Bridge and had he not produced spell at Lord’s, the spotlight might have fallen on Broad. Jos Buttler will need some runs here, too.1:19

Harmison: India would be the happier team at stumps

Did Adil Rashid have a good day?Yes. Any day that includes the wicket of Kohli must be considered good. Having set Kohli up – that may be a generous interpretation; he later modestly said that natural variation had been the significant ingredient – with a succession of deliveries that went straight on, he tempted the batsman into the drive with a slightly slower one that turned enough to take the edge. It may prove a key moment in the game and, natural variation or not, Rashid has quite a record against Kohli: this was the sixth time he has dismissed him in international cricket and the fourth in Tests.But there was another side to it. With a couple of his seamers – notably the rusty Stokes, who conceded 45 from his first nine overs – below their best, Rashid was brought into the attack with Root needing some control. And that’s just not his strength. His first spell, in the second session, saw him conceded 29 from five overs, and Root was – as so often – obliged to turn back to his three leading seamers (Anderson, Broad and Woakes) to drag back the scoring rate. By stumps, Rashid had conceded 46 from his nine overs.So can Rashid survive in Test cricket? England’s modus operandi in the field is generally to bowl as dry as possible and frustrate the batsmen. Rashid, without doubt, releases some of the pressure built by his seam colleagues. But that method hasn’t helped England win many games away from home in recent times and with Rashid being encouraged to bowl with the same mentality he has in limited-overs cricket – to think wickets instead of economy – perhaps he can add something different to the attack.It seems he may soon be playing more red-ball cricket, too. There is a thawing in relationships between Rashid and Yorkshire and a real possibility of him signing a new contract with the club in the coming days which would including the commitment to play Championship cricket.The surfaceIn 2014, these teams played out a hideously dull draw on a pitch so slow and lifeless that only 29 wickets fell in total and it was deemed “poor” by ICC match referee, David Boon.This surface isn’t anywhere near as bad as that. It offered seam movement and, in due course, may well assist both reverse-swing (the pitch is in the middle of a huge, dry square full of used pitches) and spin. Had England utilised the new ball a bit better, it might have produced another low first innings total. It was still a pretty entertaining day.But it is a bit slower than is ideal. And there is a danger that, as the match progresses, the life will be crushed out of it by the heavy roller. We could be in for an attritional encounter. But India have Ashwin and he just might be able to unlock such a surface.1:06

India left the ball better than they have done – Woakes

The slipsHere we saw the best and worst of England’s much-debated cordon. The one-handed catch by Alastair Cook to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane was as brilliant as it was surprising. Cook’s catching has been hit and miss in recent times – he has taken 70% of chances since the start of 2016 – but here he stuck out his left hand to take a sharp chance.Left-handed catches from right-handed batsmen are quite unusual at first slip as they might normally be taken by the keeper. And it may be, upon reflection, that England decide Cook should have been a little closer to Jonny Bairstow. But if he can take chances like this, it allows England to spread their cordon just a little wider.The other side of the story came in the shape of Keaton Jennings. He missed what was, by Test cricket’s standards, an unusually straightforward chance at third slip off Broad when Hardik Pandya, who had scored 14, saw one balloon off his glove then shoulder and loop towards Jennings. Maybe the lack of pace on the ball surprised Jennings, but he really did make a fearful hash of the chance. Indeed, the fact the drop produced an ‘Oh-my-Broad’ face very similar to the bowler’s reaction when Stokes held on to that ridiculous catch here to dismiss Adam Voges in 2015 says it all. It just this time Broad couldn’t believe it for all the wrong reasons. Anderson and Jos Buttler ensured it was not to prove too costly a miss, but it was a moment that showed how far England have to go before they feel they have settled on a reliable slip cordon.

After misfielding on his first touch in international cricket, India’s latest allrounder did not look back and grabbed his first opportunity as if it was his last

Sreshth Shah at Eden Gardens05-Nov-2018Krunal Pandya’s first touch in international cricket was disastrous. Moments after making his debut, he was chasing a Shai Hope drive to the boundary off the evening’s second delivery.Krunal had covered the ground in a flash by sprinting towards the boundary. But just as he slid across the ground to parry the ball back, it inadvertently slipped through his fingers and touched the boundary rope. A despondent Krunal was left with retrieveing the ball from beyond the boundary.Starting your India career with an error is not the best of starts. But that first mistake would also be his last in a dream debut that saw India clinch a five-wicket win against West Indies in the series opener.Introduced in the eighth over by captain Rohit Sharma, Krunal conceded ten off his first over. He could not quite gauge the turn offered by the pitch, and after two consecutive wides down the leg side, Krunal had been deposited by Kieron Pollard over long-off. Team-mates in the IPL, Pollard would have faced Krunal countless times over the past three years in the Mumbai Indians nets, and it looked like the West Indian allrounder had a one-up over his Indian counterpart after the first-over bout. But in his second over, a composed Krunal quickly made amends.The first ball of his second over rapped Pollard on the pads, a tight lbw shout turned down. But the next delivery, a quicker one that skidded through, was smacked right down long-on’s throat once the fielder was positioned straighter after that previous six. Krunal had earned his maiden international wicket, and he did not hesitate to blow kisses towards Pollard as he trodded his way back to the pavillion at 47 for 4.”He’s (Pollard) like a brother to me,” Krunal told after the match. “And to get him as the first international wicket is a special thing for me because I’ve been very close to him. During the game itself, I was teasing him that I got his wicket. The kisses at the end was my love for Pollard after getting him out.”Krunal did not add to his wickets tally from there but he also did not concede any more boundaries after that, finishing with 1 for 15 off his four overs, going for only five runs off his final 18 deliveries.Krunal Pandya blows a kiss to Kieron Pollard after getting his wicket•Associated PressIt must have helped that Krunal was being captained by his leader at Mumbai Indians. In the IPL, Rohit had utilised Krunal’s skills brilliantly in the middle overs, using the left-arm spinner’s accuracy to plug the flow of runs. In Kolkata, it was much of the same, as he let the debutant place his fielders just as he wished and backed him without adding any pressure.”I have played a lot under Rohit, under 40-50 games of IPL under him,” Krunal said. “The best part about playing under him is he allows you to express yourself, whether you’re bowling or batting. He keeps things simple and he just says that whate​​ver you want, I’ll give you. Whether fielding or batting also, he never gives you pressure.”Rohit may not have exerted any pressure on him, but the scoreboard surely did when Krunal walked in to bat in the chase. India were at 83 for 5 after 15 overs, with 27 runs to get, and Krunal joined Dinesh Karthik amidst stunned silence after Manish Pandey’s dismissal. Another wicket and India’s weak tail would have been exposed.But Krunal has been in such situations before. For Mumbai Indians, he has played the role of the finisher fairly well in the past. Remember his Man-of-the-Match performance in the IPL 2017 final? India needed a similar innings from Krunal and, of course, he delivered.With another finisher in Karthik at the other end, Krunal quickly soaked in all the pressure built up by dot balls. He took a single off his first, ran a hard double off his second, and by the time he had faced the third ball, Krunal was batting like this was his 50th international match and not his first. The experience of playing over 50 T20s overall was showing. When Fabian Allen floated one up, maybe tempting the batsman to slog, Krunal quickly shuffled across the line and executed a reverse paddle towards the third-man boundary for four. India needed a comfortable 16 off 24 now.In the next over, Krunal dabbed one fine off left-arm spinner Kharry Pierre to beat short-third man, and with 10 runs to go when the 18th over began, he nonchalantly flicked Keemo Paul off his pads to the deep-midwicket boundary. He got the winning runs in style, driving over cover and jogging back for the second, to seal the chase with 13 balls left. He finished with 21 off just nine balls – the best strike rate (233.33) among all batsmen on the evening.When asked whether he felt any nerves before going in to bat at No. 7, Krunal said, “Not at all, no butterflies at all to be honest. I told myself that I have prepared before this tournament and I have been waiting for this opportunity. Then why should I take pressure at that particular moment? So I was completely enjoying myself when I was there. I was just thinking about how I started playing and that this is my moment, so I can’t let go from here.”Hardik Pandya gets a kiss from brother Krunal after taking Mumbai Indians home•BCCIThis is what Krunal had worked towards for the past three years. He had seen his younger brother Hardik catapult his way into the India team, and he himself had to wait. Hardik, currently out with a back injury, told his brother to play “fearless cricket”, and Krunal displayed exactly that with both ball and bat. Some say that Krunal is fighting for Hardik’s spot as the allrounder in the India team, but the brothers don’t see it that way.”We don’t compete with each other,” Krunal said after the match. “Hardik is a completely different category, he’s a fast-bowling allrounder and I’m a spinning allrounder. So I doubt we need to compete. I’d love to play with him, rather than competing with him. I’ve mentioned before also, whenever he does well, I feel so happy. And whenever I do well, he feels so happy. There is no rivalry. We are so worried about each other [when the other is in action].”Before this series he was teasing me that, ‘Keep my name, go and perform’. I told him, ‘Okay, just make sure I don’t overtake you’. It was all banter, that’s how my relationship is with Hardik. Just before the game when I was with him before joining the team, he told me, ‘Just go out there and play fearless cricket, what you’ve been doing’. That’s the only advice – apart from that I guess Hardik can’t give anything.”It hardly looked like it was Krunal’s first international match. He looked like a man who was always in control. Perhaps, it was the long wait since his breakthrough IPL season that moulded him for this moment, perhaps it was the advantage of having a brother who has been here before, or perhaps, it was Krunal’s attitude of making it count in his first match itself.”Honestly, I have been waiting for my opportunities,” he said. “I was preparing myself before the tournament – whether playing IPL or domestic cricket – but my ultimate goal was to play for India from childhood.”But lately I was desperately waiting for my opportunity. And I told myself, I don’t need two-three games, I just need one game, because that’s how I prepared myself. I like whenever there is a pressure situation, because I work hard for that situation, not for the easy one. So whenever I get those kind of situations, I feel, ‘Okay, here I can be a hero’. So whenever I see this kind of situation, I love it.”With Rohit leading him for the next two games in Lucknow and Chennai, don’t be surprised if Krunal’s all-round performances make him a regular member of India’s T20 set-up soon, and perhaps, even a candidate for the 50-over World Cup squad next year.

India T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur smashed 103 off 51 balls, becoming only the third woman to hit a century in the World T20

Shiva Jayaraman09-Nov-20182 Number of centuries made in the Women’s World T20 before Harmanpreet Kaur’s 103 against New Zealand. Australia’s Meg Lanning and West Indies’ Deandra Dottin are the other batsman to do so. Click here for a list of the highest scores in the Women’s World T20.97* The previous highest score by an Indian in women’s T20Is, which was made by Mithali Raj against Malaysia earlier this year. India’s highest individual score in the World T20 before this was by Harmanpreet herself; she had made 77 off 59 balls against Bangladesh in the 2014 World T20.8 Sixes hit by Harmanpreet Kaur, equaling the second-most in a women’s T20I innings. Dottin had hit nine sixes against South Africa in a T20I in 2010 which is the highest individual tally. New Zealand’s Sophie Devine had hit eight sixes against India in a T20I in 2015. The eight sixes in this innings are also the most by an Indian T20Is. Harmanpreet beat her own record of five sixes which she hit against Sri Lanka in September.201.96 Harmanpreet’s strike-rate in this innings – the third-highest in an innings of 50 or more runs in the Women’s World T20. Only Dottin has struck faster in the tournament history. Harmanpreet’s strike rate is the best by an India batsman in a score of 50 or more in all T20Is.305.88 Harmanpreet’s strike rate in the death overs; she faced 17 balls in the last five overs hitting 52 runs off them. Forty of those runs came in boundaries – four sixes and four fours. Harmanpreet had started her innings slowly, having scored just five runs in her first 13 balls before hitting the first of her eight sixes off her 14th. Harmanpreet bludgeoned 98 runs off the remaining 38 balls she faced in the innings at a strike rate of 257.89.191 for 4 The previous highest total in the Women’s World T20 – amassed by Australia against Ireland in the 2014 edition. India’s 194 for 5 in this match is also their second-highest in a T20I. They had hit 198 for 4 – their highest – against England in Mumbai in March this year.