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

The greatest athletes are playing on longer in many sports. de Villiers is doing it in cricket (and so is James Anderson)

Jarrod Kimber14-May-2021AB de Villiers looks wrecked. He’s sweating uncontrollably. There seem to be new veins that weren’t previously visible.He is speaking to the TV crew after one of his innings in the IPL in Chennai, and they are trying to understand how a guy who plays so little cricket stays in such good shape. He’s joking that he didn’t feel fit while batting. He looks like a 37-year-old who offered to do a fun run for charity and now regrets having taken part.In truth, he is the only batter to have conquered the oppressive Chennai surface. He wasn’t just good on this pitch, he played a different form of cricket to everyone else. Rahul Tripathi’s impressive cameos provided him with the next best strike rate among players who made 50 runs there.These are some players with over 50 runs on that wicket: Gayle, Maxwell, Bairstow, Warner, Kohli and Pollard. No first names needed because none are required. And de Villiers clowned them all.ESPNcricinfo LtdRemember, this pitch resembled a balloon slowly losing air. By the second half of the innings it was almost impossible to play a shot on. The scoring rate was 7.38 per over, and batters averaged 15.75 runs. It was easier to bat in the first ten overs, and de Villiers never batted then. He only arrived for the soft-ball section, where he scored at 11.36 runs per over and averaged 62.5.The 48 from 27 balls that made him sweat all over the microphone was his first professional innings since November 6 last year.It is not that de Villiers is great, because we know that. It is not that de Villiers is consistently great – that too is quite obvious now. It’s that de Villiers is managing to be this good at T20 cricket – a fickle and random sport – in the world’s toughest league, without really playing anywhere else, at 37.

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In his book, Ricky Ponting admitted that he batted on too long. His last few years were incredibly barren for a player of his talent. But in his last full year of Test cricket, he scored 134 and 221 against India. At his best, Ponting was still someone who could make 200 runs in a Test. But from 2009 until he retired, he averaged 37.76 in Tests. That’s low by anyone’s standards, but more so if over the previous nine years you averaged over 60.Related

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AB de Villiers: A different eye, a different mind (2018)

This is what you expect from a top player in their late 30s. The peaks rarely stop but their troughs just get deeper and occur more frequently. They can still do what they do, but not as often.There was a match in this year’s IPL where MS Dhoni came out and hit 17 from eight balls. It was the sort of innings you might have seen him play more than a decade ago. It wasn’t long and two of the fours were edged but it had a significant impact on the innings. It’s also the only knock of the four he played this year where he had a strike rate over 150. In 12 innings in the last campaign, he only scored at a strike rate of over 150 three times.Dhoni is not the player he once was; in the 2018 and 2019 IPL seasons he averaged 79.18 while striking at 143. This last season and a half, it’s been 21.54 and 117. But even last season, there were little cameos of 29 from 17 and 21 from 13. For Dhoni, this could just be a two-season dip – that is, more of a one-year dip. It’s possible this isn’t the end of old Dhoni.But this is generally how players curve with age. They can still do what they once did, just not as often. Or at least, this is how they are supposed to age.There is one thing that de Villiers and Dhoni share other than both being in their late 30s: both play little outside of the IPL. Dhoni hasn’t played anything outside the IPL since the 2019 World Cup semi-final. And de Villiers’ last non-IPL cricket was at the start of 2020. Leading up to that, he played the PSL, Mzansi Super League, T20 Blast and Big Bash. He didn’t play those leagues last year because of Covid, and yet, twice he has rocked up to the toughest league in the world and smoked everyone.Since the 2020 IPL, MS Dhoni hasn’t quite looked like his old batting self, although there are still glimpses of his self-assured style from time to time•Arjun Singh/BCCIFor many of the smaller T20 tournaments around the world, you turn up late if you are a star player, spend a bit of time in the nets and then hit the first ground pretty raw. The IPL is better than this – even star players play in intra-club warm-ups and other matches, and there is a longer lead-in. Players who have gone from IPL to IPL with nothing in between can struggle. At the end of his T20 career, Shane Watson would play club cricket just to keep his eye in for the IPL. Many of the older batters have said what they found toughest was having no cricket in between. That – so far at least – has not seemed to matter to de Villiers. His preparation coming into each of the last two IPLs has been superb. Whatever he is doing between tournaments is working.

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Tennis players are getting older. It would be hard to watch professional tennis now and not feel that way. Before, 14-year-old girls would sweep to the top of the rankings and burn out by their early 20s. The men started later and fared better, but it was not a sport for people over 30. That is not the case anymore.From 1980 until 2005 there were 15 teenage winners of Grand Slams; there have been two in the 16 years since. Among the men there are two players in the top 20 under 22, and seven over 30. There are two players over 30 in the women’s top 20, and one teenager.But while it might seem tennis is getting older, in 2017 a blogger called Matt wrote about how the top 100 is getting older, but the top 1000 is more or less the same average age as it has been since the mid-’80s. That is, there are relatively more older players among the best players in the game than there are among the rest.The reasons are quite simple. Most players drop out if they are not in the top 100. Those who succeed make a lot of money and hire teams to look after every single part of their life. Meaning that the normal ageing curve for an athlete does not apply to Serena Williams or Roger Federer, who are both 39.Golden girl: Serena Williams has won ten of her 23 majors after turning 30•Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesAnd this isn’t just a tennis thing. LeBron James won a title last year at 36, an age when basketballers, whose trade depends on athleticism and power, are well beyond their best. Once known as Air Canada for his high leaping, Vince Carter retired from the NBA at 43.Incredible performers in high-paying sports are staying on longer. Thirty used to be the normal age for when results began to decline; that seems to have been pushed to 35 for the super-talented. And some like NFL player Tom Brady want to see just how far they can push that number.Cricket’s new-found love of the free market means that players have financial incentives to keep playing. And cricket has many skills that age better than some sports. Batting and spin bowling are certainly two parts of the game where we almost expect players to go on past where professional athletes in other sports can. Peak batting age is 27-29 according to modern data, and in baseball, hitters start to decline at 29.Yet Graham Gooch played his final Test when he was 41. Spinners often age even better. Clarrie Grimmett started his Test career at 33, while Rangana Herath played almost his entire career in his 30s. Recently Australia’s two Brads, Hogg and Hodge, played into their late forties. But they might not have done so in previous eras. Hogg had already retired when he realised his form of mystery was worth money.(I have left Pakistani cricketers out of this article as their ages don’t abide by the laws of sport or nature. Though I love the fact that they just gave a debut to a 36-year-old seamer.)But really, Jimmy Anderson is the best example. This was him talking to the the other day: “You draw comfort from seeing people across other sports, like Zlatan Ibrahimovic getting another contract at Milan [aged 39], Tom Brady winning his seventh Super Bowl at 43, Roger Federer [39] overcoming injuries or Chris Thompson qualifying for the Olympic marathon at 40. It makes you think, why should I start slowing down?”England have invested a lot of money and other resources in keeping James Anderson in top shape for five-day cricket•Mike Hewitt/Getty ImagesEngland at one point almost ruined Anderson by changing his natural action and then later by overbowling him. But since then has any fast bowler ever had the amount of science and support he has had?As Tim Wigmore noted in the a few years ago, professionally Anderson has bowled not that many more balls than Darren Gough, but the ECB has made sure what he does bowl is for England, not in domestic cricket. They track his performance when he trains, and again on the field with health monitors. They have a collection of analysts allowing Anderson access to information about opposition weaknesses. They are at the forefront in terms of rest and rotation of their bowlers. Their dietary guidelines are detailed. England currently think about their bowlers more like how baseball handles pitchers. It’s no surprise they have managed to get so many deliveries out of Anderson – and Stuart Broad.Dale Steyn recently said Anderson was more skilful than him. Steyn relied on incredible fast-twitch fibres, fierce competitiveness, smarts and athleticism. Anderson has never matched Steyn physically, even if he is a remarkable athlete in his own right. His main trade is what he can do laterally with the ball. As long as England can keep him over 83 miles per hour, with his skills and decision-making ability, why would he not keep taking wickets?Before this era of cricket – and really, sport – athletes played in what we thought their peak years were and then disappeared when their bodies or love of the game gave way. Now, for the likes of Brady, Williams and James, who aren’t just athletes but lifestyle brands, it makes sense to invest as much as they can in their bodies because these are likely to be their peak earning years. When the money in professional sport was just good, in the days when players, writers and broadcasters all made around the same wage, there wasn’t the money – or science – for you to push into your 40s.Team athletes like Brady and James now prepare like players from individual sports. They build support networks around themselves: psychologists, decision-making specialists, analysts, eye trainers, and whoever else they need. Cricket isn’t quite there but many top players have their own dieticians, specialist coach, trainers and other support staff.ABD: middle-aged but not middling•Arjun Singh/BCCIOf course if you are lucky, your team can provide a lot of this for you. In another era England would have phased Anderson out and moved on to Chris Woakes. But now they have invested all this time and money in their greatest modern bowler, he helps them win, and success gets them more fans. Think about how long it took England to find one Anderson. If this was your business, you would spend all your money on two things: trying to find another, and trying to keep the first one on the field. This is where modern sports are. Players who are just good will be moved on, greats will be nursed as long as they can be.Recently writer David Epstein described ageing in athletes as essentially a choice. Research suggests that you can delay the inevitable, as many rich athletes are doing, by staying active. Of course there are things we can’t stop from slowing down, as Epstein notes. Reaction speed and power, for example. The fast-twitch muscle fibres responsible for them starts to disappear. That explains why Steyn might have deteriorated quicker than Jimmy Anderson. But you might think that simple reaction times are essential in batting, so that should affect batting into old age, but it doesn’t. And part of the reason is that batting isn’t just about reaction time.In fact, it’s impossible to react to a ball being bowled at 90mph. Batters don’t do that; instead, they read the field, the bowler, the ball as it’s released, and they use all that information to get into the right area to play. Even as their reaction times slow and their eyesight fades, they can face quick bowling. Not as well as in their prime, but Gooch, Hodge and others have done this.Now think about peak de Villiers. Perhaps Steven Smith, Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Kane Williamson went past him as great batters. But at least part of that was because of de Villiers retiring from, or barely playing, international cricket. At his best, as great as the others were, there was probably no other player who was in position to play a ball as early as him. de Villiers slows the game down to his speed. In Centurion, when Mitchell Johnson was destroying South Africa, de Villiers was playing him like he was Boris, not Mitchell.It is not just reaction time and eyesight that slow down – so do the movements of batters. Their bodies degrade. Find any old athlete and ask them how many anti-inflammatories they take. As we said earlier, de Villiers is playing less cricket than other great players do, and has done for a long time. He has over 736 first-class, List A and T20 games; Dhoni is up at 892. de Villiers last had a full international career in 2014. His body shouldn’t have the wear and tear of a 37-year-old player. Between 2014 and 2018, when he started ramping down, he averaged something like 63 days of cricket a year. Since the start of 2019, he has played 71 in total. Some of that is because of Covid.ESPNcricinfo LtdBut why would he want to play any other leagues now? We do not know what his actual salary is at RCB, nor the advertising and promotions income that boosts it. But that amount might well double what he can pick up in all other leagues. That means if he uses a certain percentage of his earnings on dieticians, physicians, trainers, yoga, and someone to take off his cape after innings, he could play on at a high level. It could mean one, or two, extra years of peak IPL form – which would mean more money than playing as much cricket as he can and burning out. There will be an expiration date but he has the ability, skill, finances and work ethic to push this as far forward as possible.The other problem is form, especially in T20, which can be so fickle. A season is so short, you can get run out a few times, or get stuck, and your next contract will be affected. And so maybe he can’t only play the IPL and stay in that kind of form. He could always warm up every year with games in the MSL or Big Bash League, which both occur a few months before the IPL. And for the rest of the year let his body recover while staying at the best level of fitness he can.de Villiers doesn’t let himself go; he stays fit. He turned up to this IPL having worked hard. A lot of things can go wrong for any athlete once they pass 35. Their body doesn’t recover from injuries the same way as before. And there is always the chance that he wakes up one day and has had enough mentally.After that innings in Chennai, de Villiers played two more incredible knocks, of the kind that would be career-defining for normal players. We’ll hardly remember them with his 25 player-of-the match awards in the IPL. In the history of this league there are 39 players with over 2000 runs. Among them, de Villiers has the third-highest average and second-highest strike rate. There is no real debate over him being the best batter in IPL history. He plays the game his way.de Villiers already slows the game down. If there is any batter who can slow ageing down, it would be him.

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.

His link-up with Mizanur Rahman, the former fast bowler-turned-coach, helped him turn the corner

Mohammad Isam24-Jun-2021What is the opposite of dropping a player after the Test series in which he made the only half-century in the team’s most disastrous Test match in history? In Bangladesh’s selection vernacular, the answer seems to be to recall the same player in the Test, ODI and T20I sides three years later.Not that Nurul Hasan, the player in question, didn’t deserve his return to the senior side for the Zimbabwe tour. The Bangladesh selectors and team management are hoping that Hasan can reprise his match-winning knocks from this month’s Dhaka Premier League T20s, most of which came at a high strike rate that bailed out his side Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club. It is a situation Bangladesh have often found themselves in when it comes to ODIs and T20Is: someone at No. 6 or 7 unable to provide the final flourish without the help of a senior batter at the other end.”When I was dropped from the national team after the West Indies tour [in 2018] – to be honest with you – it played on my mind constantly for the first few months,” Hasan told ESPNcricinfo. “But I soon realised that selection was never in my control, and feeling bad about it would affect whatever cricket I was going to play from that point onwards. I no longer bother about these things. Now I am more worried about whether I am working hard enough, and [am] focused enough.”Related

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Hasan’s Test inclusion for the upcoming solitary Test in Zimbabwe is an overcorrection by the selectors who had poorly handled his axing in 2018. But for the white-ball squads, he is the first in line among Bangladesh batters to have worked hard on the specific role of being a limited-overs finisher and he has also done well at it. It has, however, been a difficult road for Hasan, who said it took him a bit of time to get over being dropped from the Test side.”It is a difficult phase, and a sort of time when frustration sets in very easily,” he said. “But the senior players have supported me. I spoke a lot to Mushfiq [Mushfiqur Rahim] in Sri Lanka this April. He told me about his training methods and lifestyle. Riyadh [Mahmudullah] [also] checks up on me from time to time. They have really kept me going.”Bangladesh’s senior players have always admired Hasan for his fighting ability, but after being unceremoniously dropped, he had to find out what went wrong. His first-ball ducks in both innings of the second Test against West Indies on the 2018 tour was perhaps a catalyst for his soul-searching, but it was his link-up with Mizanur Rahman Babul, the former fast bowler-turned-coach, that helped him turn a corner.”I have been working on my batting with Babul sir for the last couple of years,” Hasan said. “I am comfortable working with him. I do my usual routine of batting practice and fitness work under him. Since I last played for Bangladesh three years ago, I have spoken with Babul sir about what needs to improve. He has helped me in all three formats separately ahead of every domestic tournament.So far, Nurul Hasan holds the highest strike rate among batters with 300-plus runs in the Dhaka Premier League T20s•BCBSpecifically for big hitting, for example, Babul worked on Hasan’s balance and shape when trying to apply power on the ball.”I have always worked hard, but I didn’t really understand why I was doing a lot of those things,” Hasan said. “Often I felt I was going through the motions. But now as I work with Babul sir, we also talk about what needs to be done specifically. His involvement gives me a lot of accountability. This especially happens when I get out for a low score; we discuss the dismissal, for instance. We always find time for a post-game analysis.”We spoke about finishing the innings, which I started working on with him before the last BPL [in 2019]. I had to work really hard on my balance when going for big hitting. Balance is as important as power when it comes to big hitting, so he helped me a lot in this aspect.”It was Hasan’s big hitting for Dhanmondi in the ongoing DPL T20 that brought him back on the selectors’ radar. So far, he has struck the most sixes (23) and holds the highest strike rate among batters with 300-plus runs. Also, most of his 346 runs have come in difficult chases against Mohammedan Sporting Club, Prime Bank Cricket Club and Legends of Rupganj.Hasan says that a bit of freedom to bat his way has worked well for him and his team.”Our team was more one-day oriented ahead of the tournament, which worried us a little,” he said. “I realised after the first two matches that I had to bat deep and basically finish the game for the team. Otherwise, it would have become difficult. But our supportive team management has given me the freedom to have a specific role, and be confident about it.”Hasan is going to have a similar role for Bangladesh, as he is most likely to bat in the lower middle order in both white-ball formats. The T20I side particularly suggests that Bangladesh have finally started looking for aggressive options rather than safe ones in the middle and death overs. Hasan and Shamim Hossain – who has earned his first Bangladesh call-up after being named in the T20I side for the Zimbabwe series – are rapid scorers, and could provide the much-needed thrust.Hasan’s big hitting, especially if it turns out to be match-winning, could quickly establish him in the side for the rest of the year. But as he very well knows, one or two poor knocks could see him return all the way to the back of the line. After all, such is the whim of Bangladesh’s decision-makers.

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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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.

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.

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.

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.

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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.