All posts by h716a5.icu

It was always going to be difficult for a long-term solution after the August meltdown yet there are also wider issues

Alex Malcolm06-Feb-2022It is hard to make sense of what has just happened in Australian cricket. The coach of a team that has recently won the T20 World Cup, the Ashes, and had ascended to No. 1 in the Test rankings resigned after a token six-month contract extension offer amongst a whole heap of angst, whispers, and unanswered questions.Justin Langer has started yet another 14 days of home isolation due to Western Australia’s Covid-19 border rules, having arrived home for the first time in six months, and he may have a sense of déjà vu.He may well feel the same sense of anger and betrayal at what has unfolded as he did when he was locked up in an Adelaide hotel room in August last year.This moment was always coming after what took place during those two weeks. A bizarre incident on the August T20I tour of Bangladesh, in which Langer was a minor player, led to reports that sparked a public referendum on his ability to coach the Australian men’s team. It led to private crisis talks with Australia’s three playing leaders, Tim Paine, Pat Cummins and Aaron Finch, and CA chief executive Nick Hockley and then chairman Earl Eddings.The depth of concern among the playing group for parts of Langer’s coaching style ran deep. Deeper than the “faceless few” that Langer’s manager James Henderson referred to on Saturday. Deeper than just a New South Wales clique that many have accused of knifing him. Langer felt surprised and shocked by the feedback having thought he had worked through the previous issues that had been raised with him after the Test series loss to India.Related

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The moment CA made the decision to back Langer in to see out his contract was the moment they were headed towards this conclusion. The sticking plaster got them through the summer but it was not a long-term solution.That Australia won the T20 World Cup and the Ashes was a spanner in the works. If they had been bounced out of the World Cup in the group stage, having slumped to seventh in the T20I rankings in the lead-in, then Langer may not have been coach for the summer, and the decision could have been more easily justified on results.But Langer did what Langer does when his back is against the wall. He confronted the issues head-on holding 30 individual zoom meetings with players and staff and allowed them to air their grievances. He took the feedback on board and relinquished the tight control he had on the team, allowing a more collaborative approach in preparation and planning.

The result is CA has burnt a legend of Australian cricket badly. CA will argue the price Langer has paid is the best thing for the men’s high-performance model moving forward. On Saturday, Hockley spoke of a transition in how the team is coached. It will be of little solace to Langer

Some of the team would argue that the results that followed were because Langer moved to the periphery. He would argue his change in approach and evolution as a coach on the back of their feedback was more than enough to justify a long-term extension given the results. The CA board sided with the former but it seems were not willing to tell Langer directly he was surplus to requirements and the measly six-month offer forced his hand.Of CA’s many failings in this saga, questions need to be asked about the high-performance structure above Langer – currently led by head of national teams Ben Oliver who was appointed in 2019 – that appears not to have been sufficient to monitor the team’s evolution. Oliver, who has a long-standing relationship with Langer from days at WA, holds a wide remit which grew larger when high performance boss Drew Ginn left last year. CA does not have a senior director of coaching which a lot of sporting clubs in Australia and globally have. The fact the chief executive and chairman had to get involved during the August stand-off highlighted the void.Great organisations are built on strong and sound leadership. Langer is a strong leader but he will feel like he has been let down after all that he has done for CA.What he has built cannot be undersold. Sandpapergate was the team’s nadir, and he was given a license by CA in 2018, two chief executives and two chairmans ago, to rebuild the team as he had done with Western Australia and Perth Scorchers back in 2012.He did that. He managed Steven Smith and David Warner back into the fold through strong, consistent but caring communication. He made players accountable for their practice habits and behaviours, and the standards within the team have rarely been higher. The selection communication became infinitely better. George Bailey’s appointment has been a huge part of that but Langer has never shirked a phone call with a player, and his constant communication with state coaches has been a hallmark of his tenure. Any notion that he is not a good coach ignores all that work behind the scenes.But the toll of that task and the workload as a pseudo-one-man band in the first two years of his tenure was stress on both sides. The symptom of stress was a disconnect between some players, staff and the coach on the back of some emotional moments and a fracture in those relationships has caused this outcome. Those that have whispered privately for Langer’s removal will argue he did not utilise the resources around him. Langer will argue he did not have the right resources around him that he could trust in the early part of his tenure. No one within CA was able to manage the push and pull of those views and bring the whole group closer together.The result is CA has burnt a legend of Australian cricket badly. CA will argue the price Langer has paid is the best thing for the men’s high-performance model moving forward. On Saturday, Hockley spoke of a transition in how the team is coached. It will be of little solace to Langer.What is clear is this group of Australian players wants a collaborative group of coaches that complement one another. Langer and former players are arguing that one strong voice is needed to control the message. The era of franchise cricket has changed that notion. The workload of an international player and head coach means that one voice can wear thin across 10 months a year, particularly in bubbles. Players source technical, mental and physical advice and mentoring from a multitude of places year-round. The modern Australian players also prefer a becalmed environment to one that is hyperfocussed at all times and at all costs.Plenty of Justin Langer’s former team-mates, including Steve Waugh, have been critical of the handling of the situation•Getty ImagesThe team can operate with a model where there is a group of specialist coaches and consultants that can be utilised where needed and rested when needed. One voice will need to sit above it all in a management capacity but they may not be expected to be ever-present given the unprecedented schedule that the Australia men’s team is about to embark on over the next two years. It will require flexibility and teamwork to make it work and innovation and proper resourcing from CA to carry it out.The players will be given what they want, but they and CA now must deliver on it. They have bet the farm on themselves after burning the man who helped save them from themselves four years ago.Results did not matter for Langer in the end, but they will for CA after what has just happened.

After a period of good results, things have started to unravel quickly. A strong domestic system is only the first step towards redressing the issue

Firdose Moonda29-Jul-2022The South Africa women’s team has gone from being a beacon through the Covid-19 pandemic and CSA’s administrative chaos, to standing on the brink of an implosion. All in less than six months. They have only lost two white-ball series in England, but the manner in which they have lost, as well as the sense of instability after the loss of some senior players, means they enter the Commonwealth Games desperate to turn things around.It has felt like an especially quick unravelling, one that started shortly after they lost the semi-final of the World Cup. It came on the back of their most successful period – before the England tour, they had not lost a bilateral white-ball series since January 2020 and had reached two major semi-finals.So what’s gone wrong?Related

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Much of it has to do with the nature of women’s cricket in South Africa. It was only eight years ago, after all, that the women’s game turned professional. In a short time, South Africa managed to punch above their weight to help grow the game – but perhaps not as much as we thought. At national level, the set-up has been dominated by the same group of players and administrators for most of the last decade. That is excellent in terms of consistency, and it has paid off handsomely with several players earning superstar status. But it does not create healthy competition and the lack of depth has only been hidden away.Several players have touched on this, citing the lack of a strong domestic system for women. CSA runs women’s provincial one-day and T20 competitions, but the structure is part of the semi-professional arm of the organisation, which means it is not flush with money. Apart from the 15 national contracts, CSA also has ten players on high-performance deals, and there is the provision for each of the top six provincial sides to contract six players. The aim is to have a fully professional domestic system by 2023-24.For now, though, the system is running in a way that does not create a pipeline. That means once the current group of players move on, there will be something of a vacuum. It is already apparent in the wide gulf between the current internationals and the tier below them; the likes of Lara Goodall or Tumi Sekhukhune, for example, cannot be expected to put out performances similar to that of Lizelle Lee or Shabnim Ismail. Some of that is down to experience and some of it because there remains only a small pool of players to choose from.Lee’s recent and abrupt retirement seems to have provided a window into broader issues affecting the team. The news came as a shock to everyone, including her own team-mates, and it has since emerged that she called it quits after failing a fitness test, which could have led to her being dropped from the side as well as missing out on franchise cricket. CSA hoped to prevent Lee from stepping away but when it realised that wouldn’t happen, it chose to keep the reasons for her retirement private. Her decision feels like a prelude, too, as CSA is concerned that she could be the first of many to go.

In October, Hilton Moreeng will have been the national women’s coach for ten years, a long time for one person to be in charge. A team needs fresh ideas and faces and Moreeng’s vast experience could see him deployed into an overseeing role

Mignon du Preez has already chosen to play only T20Is and, after being appointed as a consultant for Fairbreak, is likely to announce her international retirement after the T20 World Cup. Ismail is 33 and though she has said she wants to play till 40 and beyond, a calf injury kept her out of the Test against England and a back problem out of the last T20I. Between those, she wasn’t operating with the same effectiveness she is known for.Trisha Chetty is 34 and has lost ground to Sinalo Jafta. Marizanne Kapp and Dane van Niekerk have affirmed their commitment to the national team, but Kapp has struggled with her health and had to leave the England tour for personal reasons. Van Niekerk has not played for the team since last September and is yet to return to action after breaking her ankle in January. Initially, she was due to be out for three months. That has turned into eight.In van Niekerk’s absence, South Africa have occasionally appeared rudderless. Sune Luus is a capable replacement when things are going well, but her own dip in form and the finger injury which has prevented her from contributing as a bowler have taken their toll. If all these players step away, the core of the team will be gone.On the field, in reactions to defeat or even missed chances, the team has occasionally operated as if under the weight of the knowledge of an impending transition. Across the breadth of South African cricket officialdom, words like “immature” have been bandied about to describe the set-up. While there may be an inbuilt misogyny to observations like that, with the women’s game often described as emotional or reactive, it could also hint at an underlying lack of readiness around the women’s game for the environment of elite sport. They are not used to being asked tough questions, and even less used to having their change-room environment in the spotlight.That’s quite the opposite to the men’s situation, where everything from the songs they sing at fines meetings to the language they use in press conferences is dissected. While the South African men have stressed that they are in a good place now, historical disharmony was unpacked at the recent Social Justice and Nation Building hearings. The same commission only had testimony from one former women’s player and that did not feature in the final report. The many complexities of the women’s team are often left unaddressed.As is the fact that the women’s team contains at least one – possibly more – romantic relationship within it. That adds a new layer to team dynamics. Cricket has only just started to talk about sexuality and CSA, which has only just got a grip on race-related issues, has shown it is some distance away from dealing with the issue. CSA is not the only institution coming to terms with it and other teams face similar realities. But those who have managed to elevate themselves to an elite level (Australia, England, New Zealand) are talking about them. Perhaps that is the kind of evolution South Africa needs to strive for.Once the current lot moves on, South Africa might well be left with a great vacuum•Getty ImagesAt least the new director of cricket Enoch Nkwe has the women’s team high on his agenda and will be seeking answers from them as early as this week. He will be in the United Kingdom, where both the men’s and women’s national teams are playing, and aims to survey the scope of his work and, potentially, the extent of the problem.One of the earliest decisions Nkwe will have to make is putting in a succession plan for Hilton Moreeng. In October, Moreeng will have been the national women’s coach for ten years, a long time for one person to be in charge. His contract runs until April 2023 and, even if South Africa win the home T20 World Cup, it’s difficult to imagine he will stay on. A team needs fresh ideas and faces and Moreeng’s vast experience could see him deployed into an overseeing role, especially if CSA is serious about improving domestic structures.That means Moreeng will likely bow out having taken South Africa to four major tournament semi-finals but, unless things change dramatically in the next week, without achieving one of his big goals: a major trophy. And it hurts.”There’s so many things we came so close to winning,” Moreeng said after South Africa’s T20I series defeat to England. “We had opportunities: 2017 was one of those and if you look at the T20 in Australia, it was a difference of either way – a boundary – for the sides to be in the final. So yes it’s one of those.”Even the last World Cup, it’s one of those missed chances. We played well throughout the World Cup and when it mattered it just didn’t happen on the day. Everyone is feeling it because they worked extremely hard against all odds to be where they are to put the Momentum Proteas on the map to be able to compete with some of the top cricketing teams in the world.”Over the last decade, they have done that and they can be proud. But it’s time for a second iteration of professionalism in the women’s game, an up-levelling, if you will. The Commonwealth Games could be the catalyst for that.

Ahead of the Super 4 game against Pakistan, the India coach’s media interaction was a mix of candour, wariness and dry humour

Shashank Kishore04-Sep-20221:35

When Rahul Dravid stopped just short of using the word “sexy”

Rahul Dravid’s expressions as he walked into the media conference on Saturday were typically studious. But it took less than five minutes of him fielding questions for those expressions to change. Over the next 20 minutes, he was witty, entertaining, happy to play along, all while keeping the media typically at an arm’s length over tactics and combinations.Is Dinesh Karthik the first-choice wicketkeeper ahead of Rishabh Pant? Has Ravindra Jadeja been ruled out of the T20 World Cup? Will you continue to, err, experiment? How do you react to guys who play outrageous shots, considering you hardly played those in your days? The questions flew in thick and fast.Related

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Dravid answered them all patiently. And in between serious answers, he triggered peels of laughter. Then, when he was asked if Pakistan’s fast bowlers were better than India’s in their opening game, his expression changed again. There were slight creases on his forehead.Was he annoyed? Perhaps not. He was more bemused, it seemed, at the “” (they were a lot stronger) description.”Pakistan’s bowlers bowled well, I accept that,” he said. “They are a very good bowling side. But we also restricted them to 147 through good bowling. The number you will see, sometimes someone has bowled 145 kph or 147 kph but, at the end of the day, bowling analysis is the most important thing. Whether you’re bowling at 135 or 145 or 125, swinging the ball or not, you are judged by the results you produce.”Bowling analysis of our fast bowlers was also pretty good. I respect their bowling, certainly, but I am very confident that we have a very good bowling attack as well. One that produces results. It might not be as, umm… I want to use a word, but I can’t use it here. The word I want is coming out of my mouth, but I can’t use it here.”Anyone walking into the press conference at that instant could’ve mistaken it for a Saturday laughter club. Several Instagram reels were being readied right there. Social media was shortly going to explode with funny memes. As the laughter subsided, people tried to coax Dravid into saying the word. He was mischievously asked if he meant “exuberant”.”No, not exuberant,” he laughed again. “Four letters, starts with S… It’s okay. Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that we might not look glamorous, but in terms of productivity, we are producing the results. And that’s all that matters.”Navigating a tough spell with the bat, or a barrage of questions from journalists? Rahul Dravid has it covered•Peter Della PennaHmm, a more starry feel to the Pakistani attack? Perhaps… He’s done now, you thought. Wrong. There was plenty more to come.”Yesterday, we saw you and Virat Kohli having a long chat at practice. What were you discussing with him?” he was asked next. If Dravid was taken aback by the brazenness of the question, he didn’t show it. Instead, he expertly clipped it off his pads to the boundary with dry humour.

“We might not look glamorous, but in terms of productivity, we are producing the results. And that’s all that matters.”Rahul Dravid when asked if Pakistan’s bowlers were better than India’s in their previous meeting

“It will take a long time [to explain] here,” he said, half-jokingly. “[But] what conversations happen between a player and a coach is not something I’m going to come here and reveal in the media. That’s obvious, clear no coach will do that.”And then he switched to Hindi.”” (We also talk about where to eat in Dubai, which are the good restaurants. He has lots of advice, he says do this, go there!)Cue in more laughter. Also cue in the inevitable question about experimenting ahead of the World Cup. Roughly a fifth variation of things touched upon earlier, but Dravid held his poise.”I’m not really experimenting. I don’t really know why people feel we’re experimenting. If people get injured, I have to try out other guys, no?” he asked. “We’re not actively going out and looking at this as some kind of experiment.”When Dravid answers in Hindi, there’s a bit of to his sentences, a pure and polished version of the language, slightly different to the colloquial form commonly spoken. He introduced Indian cricket audiences to “” (expert opinion) during his playing days. On Saturday, he added to the dictionary. He was speaking of his (responsibility) as coach to communicate clearly with his players on selection matters.Then towards the end of the interaction, it was almost as if Dravid was anticipating the final question arriving in his mother tongue, Marathi. When the question came, from a scribe he’d known for years, he offered a sheepish smile. He paused, probably wondering whether to answer in Marathi, but eventually began in English and then switched to Hindi.As he finished, he picked up his backpack, took a deep breath, and rushed off to the nets. The media session was over and gigabytes of footage soon exchanged hands and flew over cloud spaces. Dravid, meanwhile, was back to giving his reserve players some at the nets.It was business as usual. For everyone.

There’s no WTC context to the Zimbabwe vs West Indies series, but there’s still plenty to look forward to

Firdose Moonda03-Feb-2023Gary Ballance is back playing Test cricketGary Ballance, the Zimbabwe-born, England-capped top-order batter, has been out of the Test arena for longer than Zimbabwe have waited to play West Indies in this format. His last appearance was in July 2017 against South Africa and brought an end to the first phase of a Test career that had 1000 runs in its first 17 innings and yielded fewer than 500 in its next 25. Since then, Ballance has been one of the central characters in the Yorkshire racism scandal. He admitted to and apologised for using the word P*** when talking to Azeem Rafiq, and then took a lengthy break from the game to manage his mental health.Related

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Ballance was released from his county contract, which was due to run until the end of the 2024 season, early and returned home to Zimbabwe at the end of last year. He signed a two-year deal with Zimbabwe Cricket and joined a long list of players who have headed back to the country from England, including Kyle Jarvis, Brendan Taylor (both since retired) and Blessing Muzarabani, in a bid to boost the national set-up. Ballance made his debut for Zimbabwe last month, and was capped in T20Is and ODIs, but it’s the longest format where he is expected to make his biggest contribution.With a first-class average of 47.31, four Test hundreds to his name, and years in the county circuit, Ballance will bring experience and gravitas to a line-up that is only rarely exposed to the rigours of Test cricket.Dave Houghton’s first Test series as coachAnother prodigal son in the Zimbabwean set-up is coach Dave Houghton (who is also related to Ballance), who came back into the fold before the T20 World Cup qualifiers last year. Houghton, who previously captained Zimbabwe at the 1992 World Cup and coached them in 2009, was tasked with turning around the fortunes of a team that had lost a series to southern African counterparts and associates Namibia and were at risk of missing a fourth successive ICC event.He inspired a remarkable turnaround in which Zimbabwe not only went to the 2022 T20 World Cup but made it out of the first round into the Super 12s and stunned eventual finalists Pakistan. They also beat Bangladesh for the first time in an ODI series after nine years (that’s six series). Every player interviewed – including Sikandar Raza, who was included in the ICC’s ODI and T20I teams of 2022 but will not feature in this series because of T20 franchise commitments – has credited Houghton for changing the environment, giving them freedom to express themselves, and encouraging them to play attacking cricket.Now, he has to work his magic in the format Zimbabwe have the least experience in. They have not played Test cricket for 18 months, since they hosted Bangladesh and lost heavily.Brian Lara, here with Kyle Mayers, has his work cut out•CWI MediaWhat sort of impact will Brian Lara have?West Indies have problems of their own after their dismal performance at the T20 World Cup, where they did not advance out of the first round. On their subsequent tour to Australia, they were blanked in both the T20I and Test series.A report by CWI warned that West Indies cricket could “cease to exist as an entity” if they continued to lose players to T20 leagues and failed to cultivate incentives for representing the islands, especially in Test cricket. The report detailed a new strategy where West Indies would use a select group of white-ball players in red-ball cricket in order to fast-track their development.None of them are part of the touring party to Zimbabwe, though, but another familiar face is. Brian Lara will begin his role as West Indies’ performance mentor on this trip, a job aimed at assisting with both the tactical and technical skills of the team. Much like Houghton, Lara has his work cut out. But he will be comfortable with what should be a fairly soft landing in Zimbabwe before moving south to neighbouring South Africa for a full tour.Shannon Gabriel returns; Alzarri Joseph comes full circleA West Indian bowling attack is usually worth keeping an eye on, especially this time, because it features two names that will be an important part of their rebuilding.Shannon Gabriel returns to the squad after a 14-month absence – a consequence of being injured and then overlooked. He will join a pack that also includes Jason Holder, Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph, who was their leading wicket-taker in Australia.Joseph is proving to be one of their most consistent players across all formats. He was their second-leading wicket-taker in ODIs last year and had his most successful year in T20s in 2022 – he took 46 wickets at an average of 19.54. Joseph is exactly the kind of player West Indies could lose to leagues unless they incentivise and manage him properly and this series could be the start of that process.Shannon Gabriel returns to the West Indies squad after a 14-month absence•AFP via Getty ImagesA test case for Test cricket outside the big boysThanks largely to Bazball, we know that Test cricket is alive and well, but we don’t know if that’s the case outside of a select few teams. The big three, along with New Zealand, Pakistan and to a lesser degree, South Africa, still put the longest format on a pedestal. But when it comes to Zimbabwe and West Indies, where hosting Test matches is costly and the rewards are slim, this format may still be running cold. This series will give us a gauge.Zimbabwe Cricket has put an effort into marketing it and expects to see a healthy clutch of spectators, not least because there hasn’t been any Test cricket in Bulawayo since the West Indies trip of 2017.If you think that’s overly optimistic, it’s not. The Harare Sports Club was well supported during Zimbabwe’s recent series against Ireland and there’s a sense that Zimbabweans are warming to the game again, thanks to the recent form of the national side. Zimbabwe fans have formed their own supporters union, named Castle Corner after the beverage, and are campaigning for crowds to pour into the Queens Sports Club.Whether the series will be well-followed outside of Zimbabwe remains to be seen. It is being played at the same time as the start of Australia’s Test series in India, the Women’s T20 World Cup and the PSL, and the end of the SA20, the ILT20 and the BPL, which leaves cricket lovers spoilt for choice.

Fast bowler proud to seal Headingley Test in partnership with travel buddy Chris Woakes

Vithushan Ehantharajah10-Jul-20231:53

Ehantharajah: Wood was close to perfect in Leeds

When England travel overseas, their seating plans are done in alphabetical order. As such, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood end up sitting next to each other.Wood is an incredibly nervous flyer. So much so that, on internal flights on smaller planes, Woakes has often held his hand during take-offs and landings to keep his mate at ease.They also bring treats for each other on tour. Wood makes sure to pack Woakes’ favourite chocolate digestives, and Woakes returns the favour with Ferrero Rochers. It’s worth pointing out that the exchange of treats does not happen immediately, only when one senses the other needs some home comforts.During the Headingley Test – each man’s first appearance of this Ashes series – they drove into the ground together all week. And on Sunday, these two best of friends reinforced their bond with a stand of 24 from 14 balls in the contest’s fraught closing moments. Together they hauled England over the line by three wickets to leave the scoreline 2-1 in Australia’s favour with two Tests to play.Both have their own individual joys to take from a gripping third Test. Woakes’ 32 not out in the chase after taking six for 141 across the two innings marked a stellar comeback, having played what he feared might have been his last Test on the tour of the Caribbean in March 2022.For Wood, it was as close as he has come in 28 caps to the perfect performance. A sentiment made official when he was given the player-of-the-match award for the first time in a home Test.The Durham quick took five for 34 on day one, including a blistering four-over spell in which he did not drop under 91mph, the fastest delivery registering at 96.5mph and Usman Khawaja’s leg stump taken out with one at 95mph. An eight-ball cameo for 24 after lunch on day two reignited England’s first innings – and got Ben Stokes’ juices pumping in the process – to ensure Australia only led by 26 going into their second innings, having at one stage looked good for a 100-plus advantage.In the end, that lead was only extended to 250 partly due to Wood’s second-innings two for 66. He capped it all off with a similarly thrilling 16 off eight deliveries, including a momentum-shifting six off Pat Cummins – his fourth of the game – to help England home.Even with all that to himself, the Durham quick (or should that be allrounder?) could not help bring Woakes into the frame when discussing his emotions.”One of the best feelings I’ve had,” Wood said of being out there at the end for victory. “I’ve been in that position a lot where I’ve lost the game, that’s the first time I’ve been able to bat to win the game.”Especially being there with Woakesy. We’ve car-shared all week, we’ve got a lucky car [parking] space, we’ve promised that we’d get runs and wickets. I think we will park in the same place every time we turn up here.”Wood’s thunderbolts with the ball exceeded expectations, particularly given he missed Lord’s because of an issue with a right elbow that was operated on twice last summer. But it was the batting that stole the show. His 40 runs across the match came at a strike-rate of 250. The first of the 16 balls he faced, at the start of the second session on day two, was a bouncer from Mitchell Starc. He hooked it into the stands at midwicket.Wood’s express pace will be a key weapon going into the series climax•Getty ImagesEagled-eyed viewers will have spotted Wood using a new set of bats this summer, having swapped brands from New Balance to SG. Though he was happy with the initial batch delivered to him, he found them slightly too heavy. When the replacements arrived he thought they were too light. It turns out they were just right.It’s worth noting, Wood’s six boundaries were not fortuitous swings of a wispier blade. Prior to that first ball from Starc, he had spent the lunch interval in the indoor nets with Paul Collingwood, bracing himself for a short-pitch assault. It has been a common tactic this series and Wood himself had indulged it to nab a fourth-career five-for the day before. He rightly figured Australia’s quicks would be eager to take their revenge. The preparation, both during and in the lead-up to this match, has paid off handsomely.”All I’ve done is practise bouncers for two weeks,” he revealed. “I haven’t practised anything pitched up – that’s genuine. Colly has been slinging those yellow balls. They sting but don’t hurt. You get used to playing the shot, getting in strong positions, and waiting as much as I can to do well.”It fills me with great pride to say I can do well against Australia. Look at facing Cummins and Starc. One, it’s not easy. Two, it’s really intimidating. They’re bowling fast, they get good bounce. More often than not they come out on top. Luckily this time, it’s the one out of 100 I’ve managed to get through.”Related

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Whether Wood will be able to go again for the fourth Test at Emirates Old Trafford remains to be seen. Though he has stitched consecutive matches together recently, with two back-to-back in Pakistan last winter and three on the bounce at the end of the 2021-22 Ashes, England will be understandably cautious, even though a nine-day gap offers a grace period.Having sent down 28.4 overs after subsisting primarily on four-over bursts – his previous match before this one had been on April 15 for Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL – much will depend how Wood’s body, and especially the elbow, react. There are also wounds on his forearms from repeatedly falling over in his follow-through, but those are less of a concern.Ben Stokes will be desperate to utilise him for the two remaining matches given how instrumental his pace has been in keeping the Ashes alive. The man himself is unsure.”I will speak to the physio, but I imagine I will bowl once or twice, a couple of gym sessions, maybe some running, but it won’t be too drastic. I have to let the body recover. It’s my first game in a very, very long time, especially in Test cricket. Off the back of bowling four overs, and I didn’t do too much of that either. I will let the body recover, get myself in a good space, let the wounds recover, and get myself up for the next one. “As ever, there is willing. Asked if he could crank it up once more and test the limits of the speed gun, Woodanswered unequivocally.”Absolutely. Lightning strikes twice, eh?”

And he does that while doing the most unglamorous job in ODIs: bowling the middle overs

Danyal Rasool07-Sep-20232:11

Jaffer: Haris’ lengths and variety of bankable deliveries make him hard to play

Like the eldest son with precocious younger siblings is doomed to only have to talk about them, Haris Rauf spends a lot of time fielding questions about Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. Fresh from collecting his Player-of-the-Match trophy at the presentations, he walks into the press conference room.What do you think about your chemistry with Afridi and Naseem? Rauf begins enthusiastically, speaking of giving each other confidence, about the bond they share, and how teams need this sort of relationship to gel.The follow-up is primed. You rely on raw pace while Afridi and Naseem use seam and swing. Does that make you condition-proof? It does not, he assures everyone, before falling back on pointing out how well Afridi and Naseem are doing, and how extra pace can prove more expensive.Related

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But oh, there’s more. When they take wickets, how do you feel? Under pressure or confident? It’s a devilish little question, forcing Rauf to choose between admitting even his wickets are partly down to Afridi and Naseem’s brilliance, or saying their explosive early starts actually work against him. He has the grace to laugh, and gushes about how much joy their qualities personally bring to him.We are down to the last two questions, we’re told. There is one about the weather, and another about facing India again this weekend. The four wickets he took – as many as Afridi and Naseem combined in this match – do not get a single mention. He thanks everyone before he gets up, greets some old acquaintances and leaves.Rauf is a ‘Pindi boy through and through, and has never pretended otherwise. When he emerged on the T20 scene through Lahore Qalandars’s player development programme, the edges were still excitingly rough. He never wanted the sort of aggression Shoaib Akhtar has made a second career venerating on TV, his send-offs as in-your-face as they were unorthodox. In PSL 2019, he bizarrely serenaded Dan Christian off the pitch after he was run-out. In 2020, defending six off the final ball against England in a T20I, he angrily waved captain Babar Azam away when he came over once too often buzzing in his ear about strategy. During a PSL game in 2022, he playfully slapped Kamran Ghulam for a dropped catch off his bowling. And while some of those edges have invariably been manicured, flickers can still be seen, as his spicy send-off to Ishan Kishan in this Asia Cup reminded everyone.Haris Rauf made a mess of Towhid Hridoy’s stumps•AFP/Getty ImagesBut many fast bowlers cannot switch that mode off when they go off the field, which is where such behaviour becomes rather more unpleasant. In Pakistan, that sort of toxicity is often seen in men who find themselves in Rauf’s situation, whose envy exceeds their security when people younger than them garner more praise and achieve greater things. Just about all Pakistanis in every field recognise this kind of situation, especially in work environments.Sport is no exception, but Rauf is. Afridi, Naseem and Rauf – and this is invariably the order in which they are named – are spoken of as a youthful tearaway trio, but while Afridi is 23 and Naseem has only just begun taking baby steps into his third decade, Rauf is two months away from his 30th birthday. He may be the fastest of the three, but there’s also little doubt he is now into his prime, whereas the other two almost certainly have their best years ahead of them. That realisation may bring out the worst in smaller men, but Rauf has none of the resentment that so often frays such competitive relationships.After all, this is the man his captain turns to for one of the most unglamorous jobs in all of cricket: finding a way to make something happen during the middle overs of an ODI innings. Afridi and Naseem had waltzed in against India, taking their pick of end and conditions, and guaranteed they would be the story no matter what happened after the first hour. Rauf came in straight after the rain break and promptly went for 12 in the first. But with Afridi and Naseem’s workload being rationed, he was the one who took the next two wickets, and the one that broke the fifth-wicket partnership in the middle overs and triggered a mini-collapse.He had two wickets in his first seven balls against Bangladesh on Wednesday, but again, the attention was locked on one of the others. Naseem had put in a dive off Afridi’s bowling, and gone off grimacing and clutching his arm. While his possible injury had Pakistan sweating about their near future, Rauf was busy taking care of the present. Moments before his second wicket, a 145kph delivery that crashed into Towhid Hridoy’s stumps, ESPNcricinfo’s own ball-by-ball commentary was talking about how Naseem just had his shoulder taped and was moving around.Earlier in the tournament, Haris Rauf gave a spicy send-off to Ishan Kishan•Associated PressRauf, meanwhile, had just taken his 50th and 51st ODI wickets for Pakistan, the third-quickest Pakistani to that mark. Since he made his ODI debut in October 2020, these three fast bowlers inevitably make up the top three wicket-takers for Pakistan in the format. But Rauf sits atop that list, boasting 53 wickets to their 43 and 32, respectively, at a superior average and strike rate than Afridi’s. Those included two at the backend of the Bangladesh innings, removing Mushfiqur Rahim, another set batter, before dispatching Taskin Ahmed next ball.And in that over lay another barely noticed act of mateship. Naseem hadn’t yet taken a wicket since that injury scare, but the tail was set up on a platter by Rauf for him to help himself to the shot in the arm he needed. Babar brought him into the attack and four balls later, Naseem had picked up a couple more, depriving Rauf of a five-wicket haul he unlikely cared about.A couple of weeks ago, the PCB got the pace triumvirate together for an in-house video interview after Pakistan had shot Afghanistan out for 59. On that day, he actually had managed five wickets, his only ODI five-for to date. The mood was light-hearted and playful when Rauf was asked about his performance, which had won him Player of the Match that day, too.Afridi and Naseem barely heard what he was saying. There was an adolescent glint in their eye as they shared an inside joke – perhaps one Rauf was too old to understand – clasping hands and giving each other a side hug with huge grins on their faces. Rauf, meanwhile, was pointing towards them, talking about how he had learned what length to bowl by looking at what they were doing.They’re still laughing as he puts an arm around both. He could talk about these younger kids all day long. “This,” as Rauf said at the post-Bangladesh presser, “is how teams are made and how teams gel.”

They did many things right, but many things wrong in the semi-final too, and will go back and reflect on a World Cup campaign that could have ended very differently

Firdose Moonda16-Nov-20233:52

Walter: ‘Nothing even remotely close to a choke happened’

David Miller put his arms around Gerald Coetzee. Keshav Maharaj stood with his hands on his knees. Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen took their caps off and revealed expressions of disappointment. Quinton de Kock half-crumpled, half-crouched on the ground and then got up to meet Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen’s high-fives of commiserations, but also congratulations on the end of a decade-long ODI career. Temba Bavuma led the team off Eden Gardens, looking their Australian counterparts in the eye and shaking their hands. This was defeat, yes, but not, as Coetzee had said in the lead-up, dishonour.South Africa fought, as Rabada had said before the semi-final, “tooth and nail”. And muscle and nerve and sinew and spirit. They gave it everything. That they had to is because of what may be called their own failings – some of the decisions they made and the way they started with the bat and the ball and dropped catches. But that would do a disservice to their own planning and performance and the way Australia’s new-ball bowlers and opening batters started.Related

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Did Bavuma make the wrong call at the toss by opting to bat? In hindsight, we may say yes, but history was on his side. At this ground, 13 of the 20 teams that chose to bat first had won, including all three at this World Cup. This year, before today, South Africa had won ten out of 11 matches batting first. Bavuma based his decision on numbers and played to South Africa’s strongest suit, but maybe there is room to consider if he made a crucial error.For one, he failed to look skywards.This match was played on one the cloudiest days of the tournament, cooler than most others but with significant moisture in the air. At 1pm, the temperature was 27 degrees with 83% humidity, so maybe the option to bowl first should have been considered more carefully. But only maybe. Given South Africa’s shaky record chasing – not just at this tournament – and that Pat Cummins would also have batted, or so he said, it’s reasonable to think Bavuma made the right call and that perhaps it was just a good toss to lose for Cummins.But did Bavuma make the wrong decision to play in the first place?Well, no, because it wasn’t his decision. Although he repeatedly said he was not “100%” fit, he would have had to be passed match fit by the medical team in order to be named in the starting XI.

And there it ends. Not with a bang or a whimper but with a bloody good game of cricket where so many things went right. So many, but not enough

So, did someone else make the wrong decision to play him? Not if you ask coach Rob Walter, who said he backed his captain “100%” and “having his [Bavuma’s] leadership and his presence on the field is everything”. And, in the end, Bavuma’s hamstring played no role in his fourth-ball duck. He got a good ball that nipped away and he played at it. It was unfortunate, but that’s all.Not to forget, all four of the top four failed.But the batting line-up as a whole did not.Known for what they can do in the last ten overs, Klaasen and Miller came together in the 12th over – at 24 for 4 – and took South Africa through almost 20 overs of rebuilding. They refocused after an almost-40-minute rain delay and made a decision to play within themselves and only aim for the boundary if they were absolutely sure they would find it. Klaasen lost his bearings against Travis Head, but Miller played arguably the innings of his career so far. He was on 48 when Jansen was dismissed and put on double-figure stands with batters seven, eight and nine. Five years and five days since he last scored an ODI century, Miller raised his bat to his bravest and gave South Africa a chance.It was that kind of day for Quinton de Kock and South Africa•Getty ImagesThen it was up to an attack that has had the benefit of big totals for most of this competition but, remarkably, they relied on a non-traditional strength to do it: spin. On a surface that turned, Markram took a wicket with his first ball, Maharaj did the same, and hope whispered.And that is the point at which the first seeds of hurt were planted.Had Australia knocked off the total in 35 overs and won by five or six wickets, South Africa would have had the mental space to deal with it. Instead, with each chance, there was a wave of optimism.But…In total, four catches did not go to hand. The first was off Coetzee’s first delivery – a short ball. Head swatted it to substitute fielder Reeza Hendricks at the deep-point boundary but he could not hold on. The Coetzee over went for 15 runs. By that point, he had watched as Jansen – his contemporary in terms of age – was again gnawed at by nerves, lost his lines and leaked 27 runs in three overs. Rabada was off the field with a bruised heel – which is why Hendricks was on – and the game was slipping away. Coetzee was taken out of the attack and had the time to think.1:43

Moody: ‘Bavuma’s form a big hole in South Africa’s campaign’

When he returned, he served up a spell of fire, spiced liberally with short balls and very nearly brought South Africa back from the brink. In the end, he did not win the game but his two wickets added to his record as South Africa’s most successful bowler at a World Cup, which only adds to the bittersweet flavour of this campaign.In a tournament where South Africa broke the record for the highest World Cup total and their batting line-up scored more hundreds than any other team, they have still not managed to break through the semi-final barrier. A sparkling sporting year for the country, in which the women’s team reached the final of the T20 World Cup and the Springboks lifted a fourth rugby World Cup title, will finish one twinkle short of a sporting gold star but there should be some perspective.From Eden Park in 2015 to Eden Gardens in 2023, it has not been a stairway to heaven for South African cricket. In some of those years, quite the opposite. They have been through administrative meltdowns, near bankruptcy, a near-miss at automatic World Cup qualification and coaching and captaincy changes that defied any chance at stability. And still, they reached the ODI World Cup semi-finals.And there it ends. Not with a bang or a whimper but with a bloody good game of cricket where so many things went right. So many, but not enough.

They were frustrated for long periods, but as has been the case all season, the 42-time champions found a way through

Hemant Brar14-Mar-2024After the 114th over of Vidarbha’s innings, Mumbai allrounder Musheer Khan swapped the bails on each end. Desperate times call for desperate measures.Exactly 23 years ago, on March 14, 2001, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid had written the first chapter of the greatest comeback in Test history. In the second Test against Australia at Eden Gardens, they batted the whole fourth day and turned the match, and the series, around.Now Akshay Wadkar, the Vidarbha captain, and Harsh Dubey, the spin-bowling allrounder, were threatening to pull off a similar heist. Chasing an unprecedented 538 in the Ranji Trophy final, they had steered Vidarbha to 304 for 5.Aditya Sarwate, another spin-bowling allrounder, was yet to bat but he had a dodgy back. So Mumbai knew that one wicket would effectively end the match.Related

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Musheer’s trick seemed to have worked when he rapped Dubey on the pads and the umpire raised his finger. But even before Mumbai could start celebrating, Dubey asked for the DRS. The UltraEdge showed a clear inside edge, and Vidarbha continued with their Mission Impossible.Apart from keeping an eye on the scoreboard, Wadkar was also observing his counterpart to gauge his team’s progress.”They [Mumbai] were having discussions since yesterday, when Karun [Nair] and I were batting,” Wadkar later said. “They were making the bowling changes, the field changes. But I was observing their captain, [Ajinkya] Rahane. What are his expressions? Is he talking harshly to his bowlers? That would have been an indication that we were getting close.”Rahane had looked calm all this while. Not just that, he was also pacifying his players, especially offspinner Tanush Kotian, whenever the ball hit the pads and they insisted on reviewing it.The first signs of unease showed up when Rahane was seen talking to Kotian, Dhawal Kulkarni and Prithvi Shaw, with Shams Mulani also there as a bystander. An over later, the 12th man ran in with a message from the dressing room, followed by Rahane giving instructions to Musheer who was about to bowl next.Just before lunch, Rahane turned to Tushar Deshpande for “the short-ball therapy”. Bowling around the stumps, Deshpande angled one across Wadkar, who went for the pull but could hit it only for one. He let out an expletive in frustration.Dubey, however, did not enjoy the bouncer barrage. He fended the first one, which lobbed just in front of him. Deshpande had no chance of getting there.Akshay Wadkar celebrates his hundred as Harsh Dubey applauds•PTI It prompted Rahane to put a short leg in place. Deshpande went short again but missed his line. It was so down the leg side that even if Dubey had not ducked, he would have been safe.” [they are scared],” a spectator shouted from the stands just before Deshpande let go of another bouncer. This one was on target but Dubey had no trouble ducking under it. On the last ball of the over, Deshpande had Dubey hopping but could not dislodge him.Vidarbha went to lunch at 333 for 5. The target was still 205 runs away but they seemed to have taken big steps towards it by adding 85 for no loss in the session.Wadkar was leading from the front. Before the final, he had scored seven half-centuries in the season. He brought up his eighth on Wednesday evening, levelling with Kerala’s Sachin Baby for most 50-plus scores this Ranji Trophy.But there was a glaring void in Wadkar’s record. He had failed to convert any of those fifties into a hundred. Something he looked determined to correct this time.Batting in his own way – using feet against both spinners and fast bowlers – he had moved to 92 at lunch. While Nair, who had set up the chase with a dogged 74, struggled against spin, Wadkar’s handling of it was exemplary. He made sure he intercepted the ball outside the line of off stump as often as possible to take lbw out of the equation.In the third over after lunch, he pushed Kotian through extra cover to bring up his ninth first-class hundred. His first had also come in a Ranji Trophy final, against Delhi in 2017-18, and had helped Vidarbha win their first title.But there was no repeat this time. With the target 185 runs away, Kotian trapped him lbw for 102. Wadkar’s front foot was once again outside the line of off stump, but Kotian was now bowling stump to stump from around the wicket. Wadkar found himself playing across the line and missed the ball.The group that had been waiting in the stands since morning finally had an opportunity to get into the action.The celebrations did not stop after that. In the next over, Deshpande had Dubey caught at backward short leg. The attempted bouncer got up only to the rib height but Dubey failed to keep it down.Vidarbha fought till the very end. A ball after being hit on the helmet, Yash Thakur pulled Deshpande over deep square leg for a six.Dhawal Kulkarni took the final wicket to seal Mumbai’s victory•PTI With nine wickets down, Rahane gave the ball to Kulkarni. Kulkarni was playing his last first-class match, but if Mohit Avasthi, Mumbai’s leading wicket-taker before the final, had not got injured, he would not have got a farewell game.Kulkarni was not expecting to bowl as Deshpande had picked up two wickets in two overs. But this was his moment. On the opening day, the Mumbai players had given him a guard of honour. Throughout the match, fans were carrying his posters. Some were even wearing a T-shirt with his photo on it.With his third ball, Kulkarni hit Umesh Yadav’s leg stump and stretched his arms wide to soak it all in.This was Kulkarni’s sixth Ranji Trophy final, and he finished on the winning side in five of them. The first of those had come in his debut season, in 2008-09, when a 20-year-old Kulkarni had similarly taken the final wicket to seal the title.The latest title was Mumbai’s 42nd in the Ranji Trophy but their first since 2015-16. They are not used to such a drought. They had a chance in 2022 but lost to Madhya Pradesh in the final. Last season, they failed to qualify for the knockouts because of one run. All that made this victory special, sweeter.Rahane had one last move to make as captain. The trend in Indian cricket these days is that the newest member of the squad lifts the trophy. But Rahane gestured to Kulkarni, his team-mate from the Under-14 days and room-mate for many years, to come forward to take the trophy from him.The season could not have ended on a better note – neither for Dhawal nor for Mumbai.

A look at batting averages in each country over the years, and batters who have done much better, or worse, at home than others in that period

Anantha Narayanan06-Jul-2024Recently there was a somewhat long thread in the Talking Cricket group, an email group I run for die-hard cricket enthusiasts. The topic was Kane Williamson’s quantum jump in batting average from 51 to 55 in the last four years. His high home average also came into the discussion and was portrayed as the main reason for his rather high career average. I felt that this was rather unfair, on two counts. One was that he had a very healthy 45-plus away average. The other was that New Zealand was/is not exactly a batting paradise although the recent pitches have moved away from the earlier bowling-centric ones. It was clear that Williamson’s 66-plus home average needed to be looked at contextually. So I set about learning everything about batting in each country and the result is this fascinating article. I am sure you will derive many interesting insights from it.I wanted to cover everything there is to know about batting in each country – by all the batters, including the visiting ones. A similar article on bowling is on the anvil. In view of the extent and depth of coverage, two distinct articles are needed. The areas I have covered are outlined below.How batting in each country has varied across periods.
How individual batters have fared with respect to other batters while playing on their home grounds. It is important to customise this to each batter’s exact career span.
How batters have fared at home in comparison with their away figures.
How batters have fared at home in comparison with their career figures. Let us first look at how tough or easy batting in the specific countries was, by period. I will be covering only the top eight countries: Australia England, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.Let me first define the criteria for this analysis. So as not to dilute the numbers, I will consider only the top seven batters in an XI. If there has been a nightwatcher batting in the positions 1-7, I will include him as a batter only if he scores 30 runs or more. Then he has done what a proper batter would have done. If he is out on a low score, I will instead include the No. 8 batter, who would have normally batted at No. 7.On an average, the data set includes around 24 innings per match (out of a maximum of 28) and around 22 wickets per match (due to not-outs). Also, 35 of the 38 UAE Tests are treated as home Tests for Pakistan players – other than the last three Tests, which involved Afghanistan playing against Ireland and Zimbabwe. If Afghanistan and Ireland play a Test in India, the batters of both teams will be included for the country-wise numbers.Let us first look at how teams have scored while playing in England and Australia. Do not forget that these refer only to the Nos. 1-7 batters.Anantha NarayananIn the first period, with its uncovered pitches and in its batting infancy, the batting average in Australia was only just over 32 despite the presence of Don Bradman during the last decade of that period. In the next block, the average in Australia improved significantly to around 38, with many of the pitches being quite benign. The ’70s saw the average drop somewhat, possibly due to the uncertainty caused by the Kerry Packer influence. In the period leading to the millennium, it improved slightly. Then the average took off to around 41 in the first decade of the millennium, with Australia becoming quite a strong team. Finally in the last period the average dropped to around 38.Anantha NarayananThe graph for averages in England looks somewhat like Australia’s, but a couple of runs lower. The second period was at only just above 34, despite the emergence of top-quality batters like Peter May, Ken Barrington, Denis Compton, etc. The first decade of the millennium did not see the high of Australia. The average also dropped quite strongly to around 34 in the last period. The overall averages reflect these variations.Anantha NarayananThat South Africa has always been a difficult country to bat is brought out by the numbers. The first period saw an average of around 30, which then stay in the mid-30s with a high value of only around 36. The 1970s period was virtually a no-show. The overall average reaches only around 33. Also, there is not much variation across the periods.Anantha NarayananThe averages in West Indies saw a high value of more than 42 in the post-war era, no doubt due to the presence of modern greats like the three Ws, Garry Sobers and Rohan Kanhai. It stayed above 40 in the next period. Then there was a huge drop to around 33 in the 1980s, no doubt caused by the proliferation of world-class pace bowlers. The recent period has seen a low of around 31, most probably caused by the decline of West Indies as a Test-playing nation.Anantha NarayananNew Zealand, in the 1950s, was a batters’ graveyard. The top batters averaged only around 28, the lowest of all countries. This figure kept improving over the next few periods. It reached a middling value of around 36 in the first decade of the millennium but picked up a lot recently. Their all-time average is around 35.Anantha NarayananThe averages in India have been steady, with a value of around 37 in the 50 years after WW2. In the first decade of the millennium, the value was very high at around 43. For this, one does not need to look beyond that famed batting line-up. However, there was a steep drop of over seven runs in the last decade. It could easily be attributed to the effectiveness of the Indian spinners, led by the two Ravis – Ashwin and Jadeja. It is not easy to score even 300 in India nowadays.Anantha NarayananPakistan’s post-war period was comparable to that of New Zealand, no doubt due to the matting wickets and the fearsome swing bowlers, led by Fazal Mahmood. The average went up by nearly ten runs in the 1970s, dropped to around 34 in the next period, largely due to the pace-bowling attack led by Imran Khan. In the last 20 years, the average has stayed north of 40 – an amazing metric indeed. The recent period average of 42.6 is the highest of all values featured.Anantha NarayananFinally, the average in Sri Lanka, which is the epitome of consistency. Look how flat the graph is. The three periods see values between 37 and 38, culminating in an average of 37.3. They have always had top quality spinners, led by Muthiah Muralidaran, and this is brought out in the numbers.Most of the averages, across all Tests for the countries, are around the 37 mark. England and New Zealand are a little lower at around 35, and South Africa is a lot lower at 33.1. Just for information, the corresponding figures for Zimbabwe is 36.5 (65 Tests), Bangladesh 37.3 (78 Tests), and Ireland 24.9 (one Test).Finally, a chart on how the batting averages have moved across all the countries across periods.Anantha NarayananThe shape of the graph follows the familiar pattern. Starting with a low average of nearly 32 during the initial 70 years, steadily increasing during each period, and culminating at an all-time high of nearly 39 in the first millennium years. Then a clear drop during the most recent dozen years. An overall average of 36.1 is an indication of only middling team scores.Now we move on to the most important table in this article. The one in which I compare the batter’s career home average with the batting average of the Nos. 1-7 batters who played in the country in the exact span of Tests between the batter’s first and last Tests, irrespective of where the batter played these two Tests. What is important is the span of Tests. Needless to say, the batter himself is excluded when calculating the average for others. Here also I have applied the same nightwatcher tweak that I have already explained.On an average, around 22 innings per match (28 minus the batter’s two innings minus not-outs) and around 19 wickets per match are considered to determine the other batters’ averages. The criterion for selection is that the batter should have scored 2000-plus home runs. One-hundred-and-fifty-four batters qualify.Readers might justifiably ask me why I have got all the batters, the home and visiting ones, in one basket, when calculating the average for others. Wouldn’t it have been better to separate the home and visiting batters? Let me answer it this way. There have been times when the home team has been weaker – New Zealand in the 1950s, India in the 1980s, etc. There have been times when the home team has been stronger – Australia around 2010, India recently, etc.Putting all the batters together allows me to take care of all such situations. Also, I do not want to make statements like “XYZ was better in comparison to his fellow batters, but was weak when compared to the visiting batters”. It does not convey much. The bottom line is: How does his home batting average compare with all the batters who batted in that country from his first Test to his last Test? And that question has been answered effectively.