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And how often has a batsman been dismissed twice in one day by the same bowler?

Steven Lynch04-Aug-2020Is it correct that Jimmy Anderson has now taken more wickets in Tests against West Indies than anyone else? asked Jamie Bright from England

James Anderson’s final wicket in the recent series gave him 87 in Tests against West Indies, beating the old England record of 86, held for more than half a century by Fred Trueman (86). In third place now is Stuart Broad, with 73.The list of wicket-takers in England-West Indies Tests is a bit lopsided, as no fewer than seven West Indies bowlers finished with more than Anderson’s 87 wickets. Five of them reached 100, with Curtly Ambrose leading the way with a remarkable haul of 164, at an average below 19.Anderson now holds the England record, but two bowlers from other countries have taken more West Indian wickets in Tests: Glenn McGrath captured 110, and Kapil Dev 89.Which player scored 343 not out in a first-class match but finished on the losing side? asked Michael Seymour from France

This supremely unfortunate batsman was Essex’s Peter “Percy” Perrin, who made 343 not out in Chesterfield in 1904. But it was in vain: Derbyshire almost matched Essex’s 597, then bowled them out for 97 in the second innings – Perrin, perhaps believing he’d done his bit, managed only 8 – and knocked the runs off to win.Perrin hit 68 fours in his innings, a record that stood for 90 years, until it was broken by Brian Lara in his 501 not out. According to a recent book by the Derbyshire historian John Shawcroft, Essex’s scorer said that 14 of Perrin’s boundary hits landed the ball onto the cinder path surrounding the turf or beyond it. Nowadays these would have counted as sixes (the rule was not changed till 1910), and he would have finished with 371.Perrin made almost 30,000 runs in an Essex career that lasted over 30 years. He never played for England, although he was later a Test selector, eventually chairing the panel.Kemar Roach was dismissed twice by Stuart Broad on the third day of the third Test. How often has this happened? asked Siddharth Doshi from India

That double dismissal of Kemar Roach by Stuart Broad at Old Trafford last week appears to be the 147th time a bowler has dismissed the same batsman twice on the same day in a Test. It had happened to Roach before: Australia’s Josh Hazlewood removed him twice on the third day in Hobart in 2015-16.Five South Africans fell twice on the same day to England’s Johnny Briggs in Cape Town in 1888-89. This daily haul was equalled on a wet pitch at Lord’s in 1934, when five Australians were dismissed twice on the third day, four of them by Hedley Verity. And in Harare in 2005, five Zimbabweans succumbed twice on the second day against New Zealand.Barry Richards played only four Tests before South Africa’s sporting exclusion but made 508 runs and two centuries in them•Getty ImagesI was looking at Barry Richards’s record – if we use four Test matches as the base, is he the batsman with the most runs and most centuries? asked Hemant Kher from the United States

If you mean people who played only four matches in all, then Barry Richards is indeed top with 508 runs – second, with 353, is another South African from that 1969-70 series, Lee Irvine. The only other man with two centuries from four Tests or fewer is Abid Ali, of Pakistan, who has two from three matches so far – but he’ll presumably play again soon.If you mean who of everyone had the most runs after four Tests, then Richards comes in eighth – Sunil Gavaskar is top with 774 (all in the West Indies in 1970-71). George Headley made 703, Conrad Hunte 577, Javed Miandad 573, Vinod Kambli 544, KS Ranjitsinhji 516, and Herbie Collins 515. Gavaskar and Headley had four centuries; Hunte, Arthur Morris and Mohammad Azharuddin three. Richards is one of 46 batsmen who made two centuries in their first four Tests.Shivnarine Chanderpaul was involved in 77 Test losses. Who holds the corresponding records for one-day and T20Is? asked Gordon Brine from South Africa

You’re right that Shivnarine Chanderpaul took part in the most Test defeats – 77 – a record he inherited from his long-time team-mate Brian Lara, who was on the losing side 63 times. Five others have lost a half-century of Tests: Sachin Tendulkar (56), Alastair Cook (55), Alec Stewart (54), Jimmy Anderson (53) and Mohammad Ashraful (50 of 61 matches played).The record for most defeats in one-day internationals is a round 200, by Tendulkar: this is perhaps not terribly surprising, as he played more such matches (463) than anyone else. Behind him come Sanath Jayasuriya (193 defeats), Mahela Jayawardene (186) and Shahid Afridi (170). In all, 65 players have been on the losing side in 100 or more ODIs.Three Bangladeshis top the list of most defeats in T20Is. Mahmudullah has played in 56 losses, and Mushfiqur Rahim and Tamim Iqbal in 52 each. Hamilton Masakadza of Zimbabwe played 66 matches and tasted defeat 50 times.And there’s an addition to the recent question about the tennis player Sania Mirza, from Manish Achuth, among others:

“With regards to your question on Sania Mirza’s connections to cricketers, her sister Anam Mirza is married to Mohammad Asaduddin, the son of the former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin. He played two first-class matches for Goa a couple of seasons ago.”Use our
feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

The inside story of a champion team’s phoenix-like rise to win their fourth domestic 50-over title

Shashank Kishore16-Mar-2021Even as Mumbai sank to four defeats in five matches at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, things were going from bad to worse at the Mumbai Cricket Association, whose scrap with the Cricket Improvement Committee was out in the open. Who the coach would be was a big bone of contention.It wouldn’t be Amit Pagnis. He was done after the T20 tournament. So, Ramesh Powar, after a convoluted and messy process, took charge 48 hours after the team was to depart for the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He has now helmed Mumbai to their fourth domestic 50-overs title.Powar’s appointment meant Mumbai had a fourth coach in the last three years. Pagnis, his predecessor, had been a late replacement for former wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant, under whom they won the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2018-19 but had a poor Ranji Trophy. Samant had been brought in after Sameer Dighe was let go after one season. The churn threatened to take the focus completely away from the cricket.Even as the MCA and the CIC squabbled in full public view, Aditya Tare, one of their senior players, found to his shock that he had been given no explanation for his omission from the Vijay Hazare Trophy longlist. It wasn’t until Powar’s intervention that Tare was picked again. On Sunday, Tare scored his maiden List-A century in a tall chase as Mumbai beat Uttar Pradesh in the final to break a streak of six tournaments without a trophy. It capped a remarkable turnaround for a team that appeared to have been in the doldrums only six weeks earlier.”There was a lot of stuff happening,” Tare tells ESPNcricinfo of the state of flux Mumbai were in. “There was no camp, then the results in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Senior players had an axe on them, they were called a lot of things. It was like we were humiliated. A lot of remarks were passed, questions raised about the future of certain individuals. It was tough.”On his very first day on the job, Powar knew cricket was far off, and there was a crisis to be resolved first. “Total chaos, crisis, and I like such a situation,” Powar says of his first thoughts as he linked up with the team. “In a way, when things are so bad, the only way is up. Everyone’s character shines through in a crisis. It’s easier to take over a team in chaos because everyone has that fire of wanting to fight back and answer the critics, even if they may not admit to it openly. I could see that with this group too.”Related

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• Shaw reveals he 'broke down' after being dropped in Australia

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A tough talker, Powar gave no illusions to the team in his first chat with them at the Wankhede Stadium before departure. “They were low, disappointed with themselves that they’d let the Mumbai brand of cricket down. It was difficult to pick them up initially,” Powar says.Tare remembers having a sense of focus as they regrouped. “Ramsy (Powar) openly declared confidence into players. He said: ‘once I back a player, I will back long-term.’ That told the players he’s not someone who will throw you out after two games. That feeling affects the mentality of a player and the squad. He addressed that in the first meeting itself, after which he did a lot of one-on-one work during our quarantine since we couldn’t go out to train.”Once the talking was done, it was time to make the most of their two training sessions before the tournament. The focused vibe appeared to trickle down to the entire group. It began with the side being punctual for the nets, meetings and team events. Training sessions intense and structured.”We told them, we will give them whatever they needed, infrastructure-wise and support-wise, but [we] expect the best, in terms of attitude and performance,” Powar says. “They understood it wasn’t just fun and games anymore.”Not initially in Mumbai’s longlist of players, Aditya Tare went on to score a match-winning hundred in the final•Aditya TareIyer, Suryakumar, Tare, Thakur play mentorsThe one-on-ones were about setting expectations, prioritizing the first XI, clarifying every player’s role and asking the senior group of five players – Tare, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni and Shardul Thakur – to play a mentorship role. They warmed up to it so seriously that even on the day of the final, hours before Iyer, Suryakumar and Shardul took the field for India in a T20I, they sent motivating messages to the entire team.”We told each of them where they stand and if they fit into our scheme of things presently, [and] if not, what we’ve got planned for them,” Powar says of the planning. “Some players were insecure, so you had to give them that confidence. Like for Tare, I told him you will play the entire tournament. I wanted Dhawal to be the bowling leader. The message for the batsmen was, you have freedom but there is responsibility too.”If you hit fifty, I don’t want you to be satisfied with it. Also, youngsters came with a fearless attitude. Mohit Avasthi, for example, wasn’t in the first 15 but we gave him a chance because we saw a good attitude in the nets and rewarded him for it. That motivated a lot of guys.”Powar’s brand of cricket is one of aggression. “On a seaming track, 10 overs, none for 30 is not useful,” he says. “You may as well go for 50 runs and get us three wickets. On turning tracks, you can’t get away bowling under-cutters, you need to go for wickets. I made it clear that winning doesn’t matter, the brand of cricket matters, and you must be a match-winner, you must make a difference. Even when we won, we were critical in our assessment of the players in private. Everything was straightforward. It changed the entire outlook of the team.”‘Show players what they can be, not what they are’In a way, Powar’s challenge was multifold because he was appointed for just one tournament in a pandemic year. With all of two sessions to find a winning blueprint, it could have been intimidating. Would Powar’s methods have been different if he’d been given a three-year vision instead?”One month or three years, my approach would’ve been the same,” he says. “I have learnt a lot of things under Rahul Dravid during my stint at the NCA as one of the assistant coaches. One of the things is, you don’t show a player what he is, but show him what he can be. It’s not about timeframe but how you manage people, right from the support staff to curators to administrators to junior players.”Outside of the cricket, I learnt plenty on the human behavioural aspect. See, you can have an easy way out and say ‘I can’t do anything in one month’ or just say, ‘give me 10 days and I’ll do this.’ For me, Mumbai’s reputation was at stake and our brand of cricket was going down, that is why I jumped in. I thought there was a possibility of me being able can turn this around. So yes, three years or one month, no worries. This change in mindset has changed my thought process of head coach.”The human behavioural aspect that Powar refers to is quite revealing. Player management, he admits, has become an important part of his coaching blueprint. In 2019, his short tenure as head coach of India Women ended after he was embroiled in a controversy over not picking Mithali Raj, the women’s ODI captain, for the T20 World Cup semi-final in the Caribbean. Raj had accused Powar of trying to “destroy” her career, and Powar responded by saying Raj had threatened to retire if she was not allowed to open.Powar reflects on that episode and believes the experience has made him handle situations better. “There’s no right or wrong,” he says. “My heart was clear, and I’ve learnt many ways to handle situations. One of the things is you don’t have to be proactive all the time, you can be subtle at times. There are different ways to convey certain things, it’s a learning process.”With time and knowledge, you gain from experienced people around you, you think ‘I may have done this little differently,’ but now I know, I have to have 20 methods to handle players, you can’t have just one method or two methods. That’s what I’ve learnt.”Shaw smashed 827 runs, the most in a single edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy•PTI Project Prithvi ShawSo how did Powar handle Prithvi Shaw? Dropped after one poor Test in Australia, Shaw admitted to having felt some loneliness on tour, even as the rest of the world dissected his batting technique. Back to the Mumbai set-up as captain after Iyer left midway through the tournament on national duty, Shaw turned a corner and responded by smashing 827 runs, the most in a single edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He became the first player in List A history to make three 150-plus scores in a single series or tournament when he made 227*, 185* and 165 in his first three matches as captain.”In Jaipur, we [support staff] and Shaw had a one-to-one. I asked him what he wants from us,” Powar says. “We told him what’s expected of him. I said ‘look, you’re a senior player in this squad, I want you to inspire young players’ and in the end, I asked him what he wanted us to give him. He just wanted to keep the dressing room light and have good vibes. You could sense how he wanted to be around people, mingle with them. Maybe the loneliness did get to him, so having people around him who resonate with his ideas, really was a big plus.”The way we structured practice you could see the change from the first session. He was happy with the atmosphere around, he batted for 15-20 minutes and then bowled at young batsmen like Yashasvi Jaiswal. Yes, technique-wise he was agitated, even disturbed. He said, ‘my hands are going away [from my body], I have to get it closer, it won’t come easy, but I will keep working on it in the room, trying to shadow practice my downswing.’ But as much as it was about the technique, it was also about getting his mind right and getting him to understand why he needed to do certain things. Once that was sorted, he was clear.”Before the final when we trained, he didn’t bat at all. He bowled two hours to everyone with the sidearm. He likes to create an atmosphere where everyone is relaxed, everyone gets something out. He went through patches where he was alone, so he wanted to be there for everyone. I didn’t know about him sobbing [after getting dropped in Australia] initially even though I got the feeling, talking to him later. You could see he didn’t want to be alone, he wanted to mix with everyone. He was throwing at the batters not playing, not even in contention. Even the guys in the last seven.”‘It’s okay if I don’t bat, give Jaiswal enough practice’ – SarfarazOne of the things Powar wanted to inculcate was to get players talking more, and taking the onus on themselves. Team meetings, he says, were driven by the senior players to begin with. Youngsters would often be asked for their ideas, given situations, and asked how they’d approach it. One of the particularly engaging group sessions involved a debate with the team splitting themselves into Team Lionel Messi v Team Cristiano Ronaldo, depending on who they liked.Aditya Tare is chaired off the field by his team-mates after scoring a match-winning century in the final•Aditya Tare”That was fun,” Powar says. “You could see them become lively and intense; it was as if you had unlocked something. They were fiercely debating, backed it with data, trophies they’ve won, what they did in which championship. It mirrored the on-field intensity. They were close, and even if everyone can’t be friends all the time, you could say it got them closer.”Powar uses Jaiswal’s example to underline this. “Yashasvi is a kind of player who plays thousands of balls at the nets, but because of quarantine restrictions and severe time crunch, he couldn’t have the same level of build-up,” Powar says. “You could see he was struggling for timing, struggling for runs. Before the quarter-final against Saurashtra, Sarfaraz Khan knocked on my room and said: ‘Sir, I think Yashasvi is struggling, I think you should give him more batting. Even if it means my batting time is slightly reduced.'”Now, I was surprised at his maturity of knowing what’s best for the team at a given moment, even though Sarfaraz himself hadn’t got too many opportunities to bat. It was particularly refreshing because Jaiswal and Sarfaraz are completely different individuals. Because of that, they’re not the best of friends. But for the team’s sake, here, they were ready to do anything. The was heartening. The next day he scored a 75, but yes, it told us he’s someone who needs a lot of training. Maybe once the bubble is over, he will be a different player, type of guy who needs to bat more and more.” is a thing of the past While they’ve got their first trophy in the bag, for Powar, winning wasn’t the only thing. It has started as a journey in trying to transform the “brand of cricket” – something he alludes to often – he wants to see Mumbai play. For starters, he wants to see the term (a word that roughly means “stubborn”, in the sense of batsmen putting a price on their wicket) being shelved, for he believes it isn’t reflective of how the current generation of players approach the game. It’s a common refrain to hear past players talk of how no season is successful until Mumbai have won it. Powar thinks it’s time to redefine what a successful season is.”A lot of people still say show attitude. That’s fine, it’s in the past and we lived up to it,” Powar explains. “But it’s about time the current generation is motivated differently. Can’t keep bringing that up again and again.”We all know Mumbai’s legacy has been built in red-ball cricket. Right now, there’s a lot of white-ball cricket happening. This current group has 12 players featuring in the IPL. Going forward, the white-ball legacy can’t be understated either. You can’t be and dominate in white-ball cricket.”

And has anyone only ever been out this way?

Steven Lynch18-May-2021Who played rugby for Wales, took a catch in an Ashes Test, and was once given out handled the ball at Lord’s? asked Mark Mitchell from England

This multi-talented performer was the Glamorgan batter Alan Rees, who won three rugby union caps for Wales in 1962, before turning professional and playing rugby league for Leeds. Rees was a superb fielder, and during the 1964 Ashes series caught Australia’s Peter Burge for 160 while fielding as 12th man in the third Test at Headingley. “Burge swatted another short ball from Trueman straight into the hands of Glamorgan’s Alan Rees, who was on the field at deep midwicket as a substitute,” wrote Andrew Hignell. The following season, Rees was out “handled the ball” during Glamorgan’s Championship match against Middlesex at Lord’s. The Times explained: “Rees, sweeping at a ball on the leg side [from Fred Titmus], slipped. His bat swung away in his left hand and, as he fell backwards, he instinctively stopped the ball with his right, preventing it either from going on to the wicket or giving Murray a stumping chance.”I noticed that Gautam Gambhir once scored centuries in five successive Tests in which he played. Was this a record? asked Imtiaz Patel from India

That performance by Gautam Gambhir isn’t quite the record, although it is the best for India, beating runs of four by Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. There are two other instances of five, by Jacques Kallis for South Africa in 2003-04, and Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf during 2006.But there is someone who had a longer run, and it’s not exactly a surprise to discover that it’s Don Bradman, who made centuries in six successive Tests – all against England – in 1936-37 and 1938. His sequence ended when he was injured in the 1938 Oval Test and couldn’t bat – and, since he then made hundreds in the first two Tests of his next series, after the war in 1946-47, the Don actually scored centuries in eight consecutive Tests in which he batted.Who has been out stumped most often in Tests – and is there anyone who was only out this way? asked Richard Lewcock from England

The man most often out stumped in Tests is Allan Border, who fell that way nine times – although that did include three centuries, and overall he averaged 68 in those innings. Another Australian captain, Michael Clarke, was stumped eight times, as was the aggressive West Indian Clyde Walcott. A modern-day West Indian, Jermaine Blackwood, is among a group of six players out stumped seven times, including two more Australian captains in Ricky Ponting and Mark Taylor.There are only seven players who were out stumped every time they batted in a Test, and six of them had only one innings. But Reginald Hands of South Africa was stumped by England’s Bert Strudwick in both innings of his only Test, in Port Elizabeth in 1913-14. The Lancashire slow left-armer Malcolm Hilton was dismissed five times in his three Tests for England, and was stumped in three of them.Allan Border has been out stumped nine times in Tests, the most of any batter•Getty ImagesLincoln Roberts played one Test, but made no runs and took no wickets or catches – is there anyone else like this? asked Paul Jennings from the United States

Lincoln Roberts, a batter from Trinidad’s sister island of Tobago, played his one unproductive Test for West Indies against Australia in Kingston in 1998-99. Batting at No. 3, he was out seventh ball for a duck, and had to watch No. 4 Brian Lara make 213. West Indies won the match by ten wickets, so Roberts didn’t get another chance, and was dropped for the next Test. He’d only scored one first-class century for T&T at the time, but added four more – including 220 against West Indies B in Couva in 2002-03. Still, he never got another call from the selectors.Roberts is one of a surprisingly high number of men who failed to collect a run, wicket or catch in their Test career – including one, Indian seamer TA Sekhar, who actually won two caps. In all, there are 23 names on this list, including one current player (Shahidullah of Afghanistan) who may yet escape it. The eagle-eyed might spot one who doesn’t really belong there – the Indian wicketkeeper Vijay Rajindernath may not have scored a run, claimed a wicket or taken a catch in his only Test, a ten-wicket victory over Pakistan in Bombay in 1952-53, but he did make four stumpings, three of them off the great legspinner Subhash Gupte. Despite this, Rajindernath was dropped, and never played another Test.There are 49 men who have appeared in ODIs without troubling the scorers, including Ashfaq Ahmed (Pakistan) and Abhishek Nayar (India) who both played three games. In T20Is, there are no fewer than 82 such men: Francis Nkhoma of Malawi has so far played four unproductive matches.Who’s the only No. 11 to reach 25 in both innings of a Test? asked Albert Sanders from England

There have now been 151 scores of 25 or more by the No. 11 in Tests, the highest being Ashton Agar’s 98 on debut for Australia against England at Trent Bridge in 2013. But you’re right that only one man did it in both innings: Ireland’s Tim Murtagh, with 54 not out and 27 against Afghanistan in Dehradun in March 2019. Murtagh’s half-century in the first innings was one of 19 in Tests by No. 11s, and he also provided only the 11th instance of the last man top-scoring in a Test innings.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Warwickshire debutant’s 3 for 29 offers reassurance amid autumnal gloom

Paul Edwards28-Sep-202112-6 looks more like an old-style price tag than a cricket score. Change the dash for a forward slash and knock off two bob and you have the label on the Mad Hatter’s topper. Such thoughts seemed only fitting on an unhinged morning at Lord’s, where Lancashire’s collapse to Warwickshire’s excellent new-ball bowlers looked something of a judgement on the decision to extend a five-day game into October. Those who called this match “a showpiece occasion” were stretching things a bit and those who referred to the Bob Willis Trophy should have consulted a dictionary.None of which is intended to criticise the late Bob Willis or the charities that will benefit as a result of this game taking place. It is merely to observe that the fixture seems something that has been tacked onto the end of a very long season.For many cricket lovers the curtain should have been brought down on Friday, when Warwickshire’s players piled on top of each other at Edgbaston after they had clinched the County Championship. Instead of which, we have an enormous encore which no one in the stalls has demanded. So as the number of wickets lurked menacingly just behind the number of runs one was grateful for Panzer’s, the St John’s Wood delicatessen whose almond croissants could even brighten any morning; even one on which the Jubilee Line had gone kaput because of signal failure at Baker St. I’d like to have seen Gerry Rafferty write a song about that.Related

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At which point Manraj Johal came on to bowl at the Pavilion End. Lancashire were already neck-deep in the Grimpen Mire when Will Rhodes threw the ball to his 19-year-old rookie but I doubt Johal cared too much that the scoreboard read 26 for 6. This was his first-class debut and it was taking place at Lord’s. Beat that with a stick.At first the nerves showed a little. They may even have been evident in the third over when Johal bowled a short ball only to see Josh Bohannon pull it straight to Dom Sibley at midwicket. Two overs later Tom Bailey was leg-before to one that nipped back and then Jack Blatherwick obligingly held his bat out and edged a catch to Sam Hain at second slip. When Lancashire were finally dismissed for 78 in 27.5 overs, Johal’s figures read 8-3-29-3.It is a lovely story for the last week of the season and one made all the richer when you know the circumstances behind it. Johal is 19 and opens the bowling for West Bromwich Dartmouth in the Birmingham League. He first played for a Warwickshire age-group side when he was 11; he has been a Bear since he was a cub.Five years ago, though, Johal was deselected from the county’s Emerging Player Programme (EPP), a decision he greeted with a courteous refusal to be dissuaded from his chosen profession. Last October, after a year in Warwickshire’s Academy and two further years on the EPP he signed his first professional contract.Manraj Johal celebrates his maiden first-class wicket•PA Photos/Getty Images”During his time in the pathway, Manraj has shown how determined he is to reach the top and he has also proved that he could overcome notable setbacks along the way,” Paul Greetham, Warwickshire’s high performance manager, said. “During lockdown he got stronger and fitter than ever by getting out running along the canals and by working on his skills by bowling to his dad in his garden.”He was deselected from the EPP but reacted by winning his place back the following year by having an excellent season in the county age groups and in the additional skill-set groups. Manraj has worked very hard to get to earn this rookie contract and it’s for him now to grasp this opportunity and to prove that he can make it in the professional game.”VVS Laxman used to give this advice to young cricketers; indeed, he probably still does. “Knock on the door. If you get no answer, knock louder. If there is still no answer, knock the door down.”To watch a young player make his debut in the last game of the season is one of cricket’s most encouraging sights. In its way it is rather moving for it offers reassurance that there will be another season, another spring. Manraj Johal will not give a fig that this game hardly stirs most people’s blood. It stirs his blood alright and for no other reason than that it is the next step on the way to the full realisation of his ambition.He has helped the Bears bowl out Lancashire for 78 and he has watched as his side’s opening batters make 120 without loss in reply. I might be risking things a shade here but I reckon Warwickshire have their noses in front.

A look at the highlights from the first 10 days of BBL 2021-22

Tristan Lavalette16-Dec-2021Despite being nomads, Scorchers look hard to beat
Perth Scorchers remain the only unbeaten team in the competition after winning their first three matches. Impressively, Scorchers have overcome upheaval thanks to Western Australia’s strict border controls amid the Covid-19 pandemic.Related

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• Mitchell Marsh ton extends Perth Scorchers' undefeated run

Their season-opener against Brisbane Heat will be their only match at Optus Stadium with Scorchers now locked out of Western Australia due to a tightening of the state’s hard border.But being nomads might not even matter greatly because Scorchers are absolutely loaded. With Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis returning against Hurricanes, Scorchers’ batting is brimming with firepower – a far cry from concerns over whether they could replace departed imports Jason Roy and Liam Livingstone. Cameron Bancroft, who had a century opening stand with Colin Munro against Adelaide Strikers, had to be squeezed out of the line-up against Hurricanes.Their pace bowling is so potent – even without Jhye Richardson – that Matt Kelly, who starred against Heat, and quick Lance Morris are on the sidelines. Recruit Peter Hatzoglou has combined with Ashton Agar in a formidable spin tandem to round out Scorchers’ attack.Being on the road for the rest of the BBL will surely test them, but Scorchers can take heed in last season’s runners-up finish, where they only played four matches in Perth. Early days, but Scorchers are title favourites.Philippe sends a message to selectors
Josh Philippe played 10 T20Is this year but missed out on Australia’s T20 World Cup squad. As Australia’s ageing top order regenerates, he is making a compelling case as he eyes next year’s home T20 World Cup.The powerful Sixers opener continued where he left off last season when he claimed Player-of-the-Tournament honours. Philippe is the leading scorer in the BBL so far with 259 runs at 86 and a strike rate of 157. He has scored three half-centuries, including an unbeaten 99 when he masterfully led Sixers’ calm chase against Stars at the MCG.Philippe’s batting is marked by composure and he’s in total command of his game. While he’s making it look effortlessly, Philippe keeps the scoreboard ticking over with constant boundaries. Right now, it would be a surprise if Philippe isn’t in Australia’s line-up at the next T20 World Cup.Zahir Khan is the joint leading wicket-taker of the season so far, with seven scalps•Getty ImagesZahir Khan, the standout spinner
Spinners have made a big impact so far. Adam Zampa bowled probably the best over in the competition when he defied Sydney Thunder in the last over of the match at the MCG, while Thunder youngster Tanveer Sangha is turning heads with his eye-catching performances. And Rashid Khan keeps doing Rashid Khan things.But the pick of them has been Melbourne Renegades recruit Zahir Khan, who is the joint leading wicket-taker with seven scalps in three games at an average of 12 and economy rate of just 7. The left-arm wrist spinner has been on the money and impressed with his variations, making him hard to get hold of.Zahir, who crossed over from crosstown rival Stars, has quickly become the talisman in Renegades attack and given them hope of a playoff run after finishing with the wooden spoon last season. And he’s making a statement back home after missing out on Afghanistan’s squad for the T20 World Cup.Stars remain a mystery
New season, same old Melbourne Stars. The high-profile franchise has long boasted – pardon the pun – stars but remain without a title.
After missing out on the playoffs last season, Stars again entered a new campaign much-hyped, but are currently 2-2 and have been totally inconsistent. They’ve experienced two bad defeats against the Sixers, but sandwiched between them are a pair of solid wins against the Thunder.They have had an unsettled line-up but should be more stable on resumption, and boast an array of match-winners aided by the late addition of Andre Russell. The pressure will be on them to find consistency.Late overseas signings inject pizzaz
It’s no secret that the BBL this season is short of major international drawcards. Amid the pandemic and competing with rival tournaments, there has been a drain of star power exacerbated in the early stages by a slew of English players being unavailable due to England Lions commitments.But the late signings of Russell and England’s Tymal Mills, who starred at the T20 World Cup in UAE, have provided some much-needed pizazz for a tournament that felt like it was going through the motions a little with so much else going on. Mills, who bowls devastating yorkers, is certainly one to watch out for after career-best BBL figures on his Scorchers debut against former team Hurricanes.Low crowds, but TV ratings remain strong
The BBL started on December 5, which is probably two weeks earlier than its optimal launch date, and the season seemed to creep up on a public consumed with continual Ashes drama.It means the BBL has been in the backdrop and, undeniably, matches have looked rather jarring with empty grandstands and sparse crowds. The highest crowd so far this season is 16,108 for Scorchers’ lone match at Optus Stadium while just 11,037 attended the Stars-Sixers blockbuster at the MCG.There are a number of potential reasons for the apparent apathy, including hesitancy amid the pandemic while it’s tough to reel in families when the school term is still on. And it doesn’t help when matches occasionally blow past three and a half hours to only finish past 10.30 pm.However, television ratings remain strong and maybe that’s all that matters. Still, Cricket Australia will be hoping for an uptick in crowd numbers when the season resumes in time for the school holidays.

Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma are leading sides with modest talent but strong collective willpower

Mark Nicholas03-Mar-2022Mike Procter was lying in his hospital bed in Durban when Dean Elgar, pitch-side at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch, said “We’ll bat.” The Procter heart that had just been fixed up with a new valve and a double bypass, skipped a beat. “We will whaaat?” the mighty Proc squealed from 7000 miles away, having just watched the commentators’ pitch report.”Did you see that?” he asked me on the phone later in the day, “Honestly, Marcus, the pitch had plenty of grass on it, a must-bowl, if you ask me, especially one down in a two-match series but, geez, they fought hard with the bat and look now, 230-odd, only three down… you’ve got to hand to Elgar, hey. He’s got a lot of guts that guy, he really has. If they win from here, well, what a decision to bat.”And win they did.In short, the South African team has had a remarkable season. Long outsiders in their home series against India over Christmas and New Year, and longer still away to the Black Caps in February, Elgar’s resilient men have beaten the odds, proving themselves a match for the two teams that contested the World Championship Test match final last June.Beset by political infighting and financial uncertainty, the players rose above the boardroom chaos to remind the world of the essential South African characteristics: spirit and optimism foremost among them.Related

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• Elgar: 'My character as a leader is not to take the easy way out'

The soul of that great land had been in their performance, for with it comes the need to dig deep and sit in. It is hard to think of any more impressive South African victories. The wonder of these were the relatively modest level of available talent and the willpower of the collective that overcame it. As Procter added, “It just shows what you can do if you want to do it badly enough. Fantastic!”After a chop and change or two, the choice of Elgar as captain of the Test team and Temba Bavuma of the short-form teams has proved rather brilliant. Bavuma’s calm appraisal of one or two alarming off-field situations has led to an increased sense of authority on the field. His team deserved to qualify for the T20 World Cup semi-finals in the UAE last November, but having lost only one game in the round-robin stage, they fell foul of their marginally inferior run rate.In January, Bavuma’s 50-over fellows thumped India 3-0. The responsibility has moved his batting on the dial too. Increasingly, and on many levels, Bavuma is becoming a formidable cricketer.Elgar’s batting is forged in steel, but we knew that. What we couldn’t have imagined is that his captaincy would have such a clear sense of values and direction. Most of these down-to-earth, grind-’em-in men of the willow achieve their results in a bubble of self-discipline, which does not necessarily make for the broader requirements of captaincy.Not unlike Graeme Smith before him, Elgar says it as he sees it, sticks close to pragmatism and likes to spend his day wondering what the opposition would least like him to do next. Having lost the first match of both series, Elgar told his players that they had it in them to bounce straight back with a win of their own, if only they would believe it. The point being that when he says as much, they look into his eyes and immediately know that, far from loose rhetoric, this is both a show of serious business and absolute confidence in them.Temba Bavuma’s side beat India 3-0 in the ODIs in January•AFP/Getty ImagesIn the second innings of the Christchurch Test, only Devon Conway, a South African now playing for New Zealand, stood between them and the levelling of the series. One wondered what he made of it all. Five years ago, Conway left the land of his birth in pursuit of opportunity – he is not the first and won’t be the last. Sure, he is another gifted South African forced to look elsewhere but he readily admits that his inconsistent form in first-class cricket was more of an obstacle than the selection quotas that had denied others. He grew up spending hours at the wicket with his mate Quinton de Kock and the irony that neither was playing for South Africa in the most recent match in New Zealand will not have been lost on them.When de Kock announced that he was standing back from Test cricket after South Africa’s defeat in Centurion, Elgar admitted to surprise. “I sit next to him in the dressing room,” he said in a recent documentary about the India series, “and didn’t have a clue!” He was pretty disappointed, of course, but quickly turned the conversation to another man’s crack at the summit.Kyle Verreynne’s magnificent unbeaten 136 – along with an eye-catchingly assured hundred by the new boy, Sarel Erwee – set up the bowlers to strike hard and fast for South Africa’s win in Christchurch and remind everyone that opportunity does come to those who wait patiently. At the start of 2021, Veryenne cannot possibly have thought he would play Test cricket for his country anytime soon. Now, two months on, he has prominently featured in three memorable successes.His story is a lesson to those who wait less patiently: just be there, in form and ready for the moment, because if you are good enough, invariably it will come. To represent someone else’s country is a fine achievement; to represent your own is the fulfilment of a dream. David Bedingham, the 27-year-old batter from Western Province who plays for Durham in English first-class cricket, is that man right now. The whisper is that he hopes to qualify for England three years from now. One hopes the South African selectors have their eye on his every move.Kyle Verreynne’s second-innings century allowed South Africa to set New Zealand a target of over 400 in Christchurch•Getty ImagesFrankly, with the surrounding noise and the lingering undertone, it is quite something that South African sport continues to compete with the enthusiasm, vigour and glory of yesteryear. It can be reasonably argued that the achievements of today’s players outrank those of any other era, so great are the obstacles in their way. The rugby players hold the World Cup, the cricketers have just beaten the best, around ten golfers are in the world top 100. Add in sprinter Wayde van Niekerk and swimmer Chad Le Clos, along with numerous others within lower-profile sports, and you get the picture.There is an inherent competitiveness in South Africans that seems to come without arrogance or entitlement. You see it in business and even in the arts, every bit as much as you do in sport. It makes for great deeds, life-affirming stories and confirmation that the land, and the life it offers, has been hard-earned.After defeat in the first match of the India series – a game in which Kagiso Rabada looked as if the joy had gone from his cricket – Elgar took him aside. His message was simple: you are respected by us all, and we are so often inspired by your performances but we need more from you here and we need it now. We need your full engagement, your leadership, your power, your precision. In short, we cannot win this series without you at your talismanic best.In the next match, at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, where India had never been beaten, Rabada moved through the gears. By the third morning, the fast-moving game was on a knife edge – India 155 for 2 in their second innings, 128 in front with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane seemingly in control. Rabada rammed the pedal to the floor. He found a beaut of a bouncing legcutter for Rahane, a break back for Pujara, and a couple of snorting bouncers for Rishabh Pant, whose response was to shimmy down the pitch and swish at the next ball, which he nicked to Verreynne behind the stumps. This was pulsating Test match cricket, moments stolen by a modern master, moments that ripped the match from India’s grasp. Of course, much was still to be done by the others but KG had opened the door for his mates to walk in and take control.It was then that Elgar played one of the innings of his life, the unbeaten 96 that took his team across the line. Like a boxer, he was spent by the time the stumps were pulled, but rarely, if ever, had he felt more satisfied. His was both a feat of endurance and an innings of excellence at exactly the moment it was needed. A kaleidoscope of bruises were the physical evidence; the chance to take the series to Cape Town its mental power point.In five Tests this season, Kagiso Rabada has taken 30 wickets at an average of 20•AFP via Getty ImagesAt Newlands two rookies added to their fast growing reputation: one slight of build, strong of mind and technically sound; the other 6ft 8in of skin and bone and a huge heart.Keegan Petersen made runs in both innings of this decider, riding Jasprit Bumrah’s high bounce and working with the sideways movement of the ball like it was an old friend. Hard on himself after mistakes cost him both his wickets in Centurion, he played relatively risk-free cricket on awkward pitches at the Wanderers and Newlands without ever allowing himself to be governed by India’s fine attack. It has been a long, slow burn for 28-year-old from Paarl but South Africa now has its own KP.Marco Jansen took 7 for 91 in 37.3 overs of high-quality pace bowling in this same decider, admitting freely that the stifling nerves on Boxing Day morning were already a thing of his cricketing past. He was the perfect foil for Rabada, hammering away mainly back of length and giving nothing to some of the most gifted strokeplayers in the game. There was something of the young Glenn McGrath in him, albeit with a different arm, and, as he fills out, one can only see a similar path to the one taken by the great Australian bowler. Like McGrath, he too was happy to mix it and one memorable exchange with Bumrah at the Wanderers proved him a worthy successor to the fine and feisty South African fast bowlers of the past – men who won’t take no for an answer.We are almost done here but a word for Mark Boucher is required to complete the story. In the documentary mentioned above, Elgar, Bavuma and others in the team speak highly of their coach, with Elgar pointing out that Boucher is starting his best work and that to lose him now would be a waste. Boucher, of course, has a racism charge to fight against the governing body – Cricket South Africa – that employs him. This comes from the findings made before Christmas by the Social Justice and Nation Building ombudsman. Imagine going to work under such pressure and delivering in the way he has! For the sake of South African cricket, the hope is that his name is cleared and the game at large can move on.The streetfighter in Boucher is exactly the sort of quality the team needs right now and the recoveries from defeat in the first matches of both the series referenced here have his fingerprints all over them. In fact, this triumvirate – Elgar, Bavuma, Boucher – is the way forward. The terrific cricket played by South Africa in the past two months is the best evidence of that.

Glamorgan batter talks ESPNcricinfo through his record-breaking innings of 410 not out

Matt Roller23-Jul-2022Congratulations. Can you sum up how you’re feeling right now? You’ve probably had just enough time for it to have sunk in on the drive south.
Thanks. I guess it’s something which you always strive for in your career but never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I was going to end up on 410 not out and join some unbelievable names. The list of players: Lara, Hick, Bradman… To join that list is, as I said, beyond my wildest imagination really. It’s been a crazy few days. You always strive for a huge personal milestone like that in your career. It’s been a special couple of days – and topped off with a great win.Was there a point where you realised you were on track for a massive score, not just a big one? You were 308 not out last night, needed to set the game up – you must have known there was a chance to make some serious runs this morning?
To be honest, it was yesterday [when I realised]. I never really thought about it today. Looking back at it now… hitting a six to get to 400, what am I doing? I could have just got there in a more conventional way. If I’d got out without reaching 400 I’d be kicking myself now. It was always a case of trying to set the game up. It was a situation of seeing how many we could get. The hard work was done yesterday. Me and Cookey [Chris Cooke, who made 191 not out] could go out and enjoy ourselves this morning after we got ourselves in.Were you conscious of certain numbers today? Were ticking them off in your own head – going past Bradman, going past Hick?
No, not at all. I knew that I needed two runs for Glamorgan’s highest score ever. That was job done this morning. Even just to equal Steve James, I was like ‘OK, I’m happy now’. After that it was about getting myself in and seeing how far I could go. I remember going through and thinking, ‘333 is pretty good… 350 is pretty good, we’ll keep going’. That’s kind of how I took it today.Related

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Your previous highest first-class score was 191. What was your highest ever – had you made something ridiculous in a school or club game?
191 was my highest in everything. I had a lot more nerves in the 190s than in the 390s which sounds completely ridiculous to even talk about it now. I really wanted that double. That was something I wanted ticked off the list in my career and in some ways, I thought that was never going to happen. It’s not something you think about all the time, is it? ‘I want to get a double hundred this week’. You just think, ‘let’s rebuild again and keep going’. You’ve never got enough, as all my coaches over the years have told me. I guess it was kind of true.Players talk about feeling in the zone, or like they’ve completed batting after innings like this. Did anything feel massively different for you?
I spoke to my dad last night and he said it was the best he’d ever seen me play. I was like, ‘really?’ I said I’d felt good, but not like I was on a different planet, and he was like, ‘no, it’s the best I’ve ever seen you play.’ That was coming from someone who has seen me bat quite a substantial number of times in my career, so the fact that he acknowledged that was nice. It didn’t really feel any different. You’ve obviously trying to make plans against certain bowlers and to be honest, it felt like a normal day at the office – but it obviously wasn’t.Did you have any family there today? Did your dad make the trip?
He watched every ball on the stream. He was considering coming up today but didn’t want to put any pressure on me – coming up for me to not do anything. He enjoys watching the stream. I don’t think he missed a ball from ball one.ESPNcricinfo LtdI’m sure you’ll say all the right things about the team coming first, but was there ever a small part of you that was thinking about asking for another half-hour, just to see if you could give 500 a nudge?
Matt [Maynard, Glamorgan’s coach] and Lloydy [David Lloyd, captain] and Kiran [Carlson, vice-captain] basically put it to us and said we could get 28 more runs for the best-ever sixth-wicket partnership of all-time in any cricket – ‘if you really want to do that, we’re not going to stop you’. Me and Cookey had it in our minds that lunch was the declaration and that was what it was always going to be. We left ourselves what now looks exactly like the right amount of time and right number of runs – it couldn’t have worked out any better to be honest.A year ago, you were on your way out at Hampshire and had a couple of loan spells at the end of the season – everything looks a bit blurred. Does that feel like a long time ago now?
It was probably a time where I didn’t quite know where the future was and it all looked quite uncertain. To have found a really good home at Glamorgan and be enjoying my cricket again, I couldn’t be happier at the moment. I just hope everything keeps going on an upward trajectory. We won today and we’re in the hunt for promotion, which is fantastic. Hopefully [there are] more good times ahead for me and Glamorgan cricket.How do you celebrate an innings of 410 not out?
I’m literally just heading to a mate’s barbecue – a mate from when I was at Hampshire. I’ve just slipped down there from Leicester. We’ve had this booked in so it’ll be nice to celebrate with a few friends. It should be fun tonight and then I’ll see the family tomorrow and celebrate a little bit more – then back onto the county grind again.

A team of delivery drivers, businessmen, a student, and fathers who haven’t met their newborn children prepare to play mighty India

Shashank Kishore30-Aug-2022Hong Kong have been on the road so much of late that Babar Hayat, Ehsan Khan and Yasim Murtaza have all become fathers while away, and have only seen their newborns over video calls.Over the last three months, they’ve stopped in Namibia, Uganda and Jersey [for ICC events], South Africa and England [preparatory tours], Zimbabwe [for the T20 World Cup qualifiers], Oman [for the Asia Cup qualifiers], and now in the UAE for the Asia Cup, where they will play India and Pakistan in the group stage of the competition. The players are aware that there’s no real path to financial gain or a big-time future in the game here, but are a determined and committed lot nevertheless.While players from the more established countries can afford to take time off, the Hong Kong players would rather not; they live for this.On Wednesday, Hong Kong will play India. They haven’t played India or Pakistan in four years, and have no idea when they will face them again. When they last played India, at the 2018 Asia Cup, Hong Kong gave their superstar opponents a mighty scare. Wednesday presents them with a chance for an encore, or better.They are a motivated bunch of cricketers, but one of Trent Johnston’s challenges as head coach has been to ensure they don’t burn out after three months of non-stop cricket, coming as it has on the back of the Covid-19 lull.

“A majority of our squad have to earn a living outside of what they get from Cricket Hong Kong, who have been very supportive despite no cricket for more than two years. But we only have a certain amount of time with the players and have to maximise that”Trent Johnston, Hong Kong coach

“There were probably six lockdowns. We didn’t have training for over a year. The boys were doing their strength and conditioning sessions over Zoom, from their homes, car park and local parks,” Johnston, the former Ireland captain, told ESPNcricinfo. “The commitment they’ve shown has been phenomenal. They never questioned anything or complained but have just got on with it.”I’m pleased for the whole group that we put in three good games [against Singapore, Kuwait and UAE at the Asia Cup qualifiers] in Oman and now have an opportunity to play India and Pakistan.”Losing cricket time, as a result of the pandemic, was especially tough for the players who continue to try and find a balance between pursuing their passion and doing their regular salary-earning work.”Three or four players do private coaching, either at a cricket club or one-on-one coaching,” Johnston said. “A high percentage of the boys are delivery drivers with Food Panda or Deliveroo. Kinchit Shah, the vice-captain, is in the jewellery trade. Scott McKechnie has his own business that offers him a slight flexibility to come on out as long as he has internet. Young Ayush [Shukla], our opening bowler, is in university. A couple of guys are doing administration.”So all of them have sacrificed a lot over the past three months to come over and play cricket. I can’t thank their families enough. The wives and girlfriends, kids that are waiting for their dad to come back. Not one guy in the team has told me they have to go home. Their partners have been phenomenal and kept the house moving, I thank them a hell of a lot.”Remember Trent Johnston? He was Ireland’s captain when they beat Pakistan to reach the Super Eights in the 2007 ODI World Cup•Getty ImagesAll of it has been a challenge; off the field of play, expanding their pool of players, especially. Bringing players to a certain level of proficiency and then losing them to education or a full-time profession has been, perhaps, the biggest obstacle.Take some of the players that were around during the Asia Cup four years ago.Christopher Carter, the wicketkeeper-batter, left to attend flight school in Australia and is currently a pilot with Cathay Pacific.Jamie Atkinson, a former captain, is a PE teacher at a private school.Anshy Rath, their captain in that tournament, has moved to India, hoping to establish a career in the domestic set-up and the IPL as a local player with the use of his Indian passport.Mark Chapman, whose parents lived and worked in Hong Kong, grew up playing amid the high-rises. His father, Peter, a New Zealander, was the crown prosecutor for the Hong Kong government; his mother, Anne, a Chinese woman, worked in the lucrative finance sector. Chapman came through the age-group system in Hong Kong and made the national team before leaving for college in Auckland. The access to a first-class system, the best facilities and better pay, made his decision easy. He has played for both Hong Kong and New Zealand internationally, and is now with the New Zealand A squad in India.

“For me, as coach, working with players on an area of their game and then being able to see them execute them in games under pressure, that is what I get a buzz out of”Trent Johnston

“The expat community – you have kids who come through the pathways and then go off to school somewhere else. Carter and Jamie are available to play for us, but it’s limited. A majority of our squad have to earn a living outside of what they get from Cricket Hong Kong,” Johnston explained. “Cricket Hong Kong have been very supportive despite no cricket for more than two years. But we only have a certain amount of time with the players and have to maximise that.”They also have a living to make because Hong Kong is probably the second dearest city in the world [the dearest, for expats, according to an ECA International study]. Many of them are trying to send money back home to Pakistan. I try and get the maximum out of what I can, and they get the maximum out of what they need to do to support their families.”When the national team isn’t on tour, Johnston, who is now a Hong Kong resident too, charts their progress route. “We have the Under-16s and Under-19s that form our pathway programmes,” Johnston said. “We now have an Under-18 team heading to Oman for the Asia Cup qualifiers at the end of the month. We have quite a bit of infrastructure and participation from the cubs.”There are now five or six Chinese teams that play in various leagues. Our Premier League is now a five-team structure [as compared to three earlier], which is probably right. From the player pool point of view, you’re looking at choosing from 20 players tops if everyone is available, [accounting for] guys working and those sorts of things.”We don’t have a lot of players to choose from, but that has its advantages and disadvantages. If you’ve got guys unavailable or injured, you go to the next tier and bring on a guy who may be young and not ready but have to play them. It also gives you narrow focus, and you can concentrate on them, It is what it is, we can’t create players or bring players in. We just work with what we’ve got.Anshy Rath in action – when Hong Kong gave India an almighty scare•Getty Images”We’ve got two spinners, Ehsan Khan and Yamin, in their mid-30s, we have two fast bowlers, 19 and 22, and an experienced batting line-up. They [at the board] are working in operations and high performance, trying to enhance those structures. The women’s side of things is very good, consists mainly of local players and a mix of expats. The pathways from women’s point of view is up and running, so there are a lot of positives at the moment, and the next two games are only going to add to that.”At the Asia Cup, Johnston is realistic about Hong Kong’s chances and will measure progress through his own prism.”For me, as coach, working with players on an area of their game and then being able to see them execute them in games under pressure, that is what I get a buzz out of,” he said. “The last three games in Oman, we got most enjoyment out of it.”We missed out in the T20 World Cup qualifiers 2019 in UAE despite having Oman on the racks. Last week [at the qualifiers], against UAE, we were ruthless enough to get the win. To see the smile on their faces after the UAE game, you probably don’t see scenes like that unless you win a World Cup.”It means a lot to the guys, given the sacrifice they’ve put in. Now to be able to play India and Pakistan, they deserve to be here. We’re not just going to turn up and be the whipping boys. We’re going to try and cause an upset or two while we’re here.”

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

Firdose Moonda03-Feb-2023

Gary Ballance is back playing Test cricket

Gary 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 coach

Another 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 Media

What 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 circle

A 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 Images

A test case for Test cricket outside the big boys

Thanks 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.

Jadeja the only CSK player in top ten of MVP list; Maxwell and Klaasen top two in Batting Impact charts

Shiva Jayaraman30-May-2023

Du Plessis edges out Gill

Faf du Plessis, and not Shubman Gill, is the most valuable player of the IPL 2023, according to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats – an AI-powered tool that considers match context in valuing batting and bowling performances. Du Plessis collected 59.38 Total Impact points per match for his performances – the highest for any player to have played at least seven matches in the season. Gill came second with 56.85 average points.Not for the first time, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s batting was heavily reliant on their top order, and du Plessis was the vital cog with consistent contributions. He made 40 or more runs ten out of the 14 times he batted, with eight of those scores contributing at least 30% of RCB’s totals in the match. All these runs came at a decent clip of 153.6.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe Player-of-the-Tournament and the Orange Cap winner Gill was part of a team that had more batters who took up the slack when Gujarat Titans needed them. Apart from Gill, there were five other batters in the Titans line-up who scored 250-plus runs this season. Contributions from other players in the side, or the lack thereof, is one of the inputs that’s considered in arriving at pressure on a batter, which directly affects the value of runs scored by them. Smart Stats reckons du Plessis’ runs came under more pressure than Gill’s. Gill, however, earned 966.40 Total Impact points this season, which was much higher than du Plessis’ 831.36Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was adjudged the Emerging Player of the Season, is at No. 3 followed by Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel. Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Heinrich Klaasen missed out on the top five by a whisker with his Total Impact per match being 48.01, a fraction below Axar.

Klaasen’s lone hand makes an impact

With SRH’s batting unit struggling through most of the season, Klaasen was the standout batter for them, often scoring runs when the team was on the back foot. He batted at No. 5 or lower in eight of his 11 innings in the season, and despite having had to bail out SRH on a few occasions, he struck at 177.1. No other SRH batter who faced over 20 balls had a strike rate in excess of 150. Klaasen’s 448 runs in the season were only the 12th most by any batter this season, but his runs were made with little support from the other end. This meant that the Batting Impact per innings Klaasen had in the season was the fourth best after du Plessis, Gill and Jaiswal. Suryakumar Yadav was ranked fifth on this list among batters to have played at least ten innings.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Maxwell makes it count

Much like Klaasen, Glenn Maxwell was another batter who could have probably had a greater impact had he faced more balls. A solid opening pair in Virat Kohli and du Plessis meant Maxwell often didn’t come in to bat early enough. Seven of his 14 innings in the season started after the tenth over of the innings. He faced only 218 balls this season despite batting at Nos. 3 and 4. There were 26 other batters in the top seven who faced more balls than Maxwell did. However, only a few batters made each ball count as Maxwell did. Among batters to have faced at least 100 balls in the season, Maxwell’s Batting Impact per ball of 2.49 was the highest. Klaasen had the second highest Batting Impact per ball at 2.28.ESPNcricinfo LtdAjinkya Rahane, who played a few impactful cameos through the season like the 13-ball 27 in the final, is fourth on this ladder ahead of Suryakumar. Nicholas Pooran, who played a similar hand for Lucknow Super Giants, slots in at No. 3.

Siraj ticks all the boxes

There were eight bowlers who took more wickets than Siraj this IPL, but the RCB pacer overtook all of them to top the Bowling Impact charts. Siraj was his team’s spearhead, and RCB largely bowled him when the outcome of the matches wasn’t already a forgone conclusion. Siraj consistently delivered in these situations, providing his team with crucial breakthroughs and tight overs.The 17th over of Super Giants’ chase in Bengaluru serves as a perfect illustration of Siraj’s impact with the ball. Chasing 213, Super Giants required just 28 runs from the last four overs, and had the momentum, having scored 93 runs in the previous six overs.Siraj gave away just four runs in the over and took the wicket of Nicholas Pooran, who had scored 62 runs off just 18 balls until then. Pooran’s wicket almost won RCB the game, with Super Giants managing to squeeze out a win only off the last ball of the match with a bye. The three wickets Siraj took in the game had a Smart Wicket value of 5.4.According to Smart Stats, his 19 wickets this season were worth 26.37 Smart Wickets. Smart Stats considers the importance of each wicket, given the match situation and the quality of the batter, and gives them a value that could be more or less than 1.Mohammed Shami – the Purple Cap winner – came second to Siraj in terms of Bowling Impact per match despite taking 28 wickets in the season which were worth 33.96 Smart Wickets. This is the highest value of Smart Wickets for any bowler in any season in the IPL. However, Shami’s Smart Economy was 7.91 compared to his actual economy of 8.03. In comparison, Siraj’s Smart Economy was far lower at 5.80, which meant that Siraj bowled economically in clutch situations far more often than Shami did. The impact he made through such spells was enough to pass Shami to the pole position.Piyush Chawla, Nathan Ellis and Varun Chakravarthy round up the top five in terms of Bowling Impact per match among those who bowled in at least seven matches.