All posts by h716a5.icu

On a hot and humid opening day, his knock puts Sri Lanka in a strong position

Mohammad Isam15-May-2022During the first Bangladesh-Sri Lanka Test in Chattogram, there were four players who had debuted in the 2000s. Among those, Angelo Mathews was the most capped one, and he had to squeeze out every bit of that experience to get Sri Lanka out of early trouble, consolidate in the middle, and then dominate by the end of the day.While Sri Lanka have many young players in their squad, a senior figure like Mathews finishing the day unbeaten on 114 is significant for the dressing room. Youngsters will soak up the lessons from his innings, which must have inspired those as well who are not-so-young but yet to hit their peak. Through his 213-ball stay, he added 92 in a third-wicket stand with Kusal Mendis and 75 in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand with Dinesh Chandimal, ensuring both Mendis and Chandimal could bat around him.In his early days, Mathews was a big six-hitter, a nifty seamer and an acrobatic fielder. But years in the international grind and several injuries meant that these days he is more of a quiet presence. His expression of experience and responsibility reflected in the way he batted on the opening day of the Test. He mostly played straight and didn’t fiddle with his wrists much. He tried to drive every full ball within his reach, covering whatever spin the Bangladesh spinners imparted on the ball, by showing the full bat face.Experienced players have their own way of showing their intention to opponents, and Mathews wasn’t any different. He struck Nayeem Hasan, who had just taken both Sri Lanka wickets in the first session, for a straight six to start the second session. He would hit four more boundaries down the ground, which forced Mominul Haque to send the mid-off and mid-on back. That itself deflates a spinner who would prefer the batter to miscue a drive to those fielders inside the circle.Mathews hit drives through covers, mid-on and midwicket quite regularly, while the rest of his fours came off filthy deliveries down the leg-side. There was not one boundary with the cut shot, which was hardly surprising since he was only reacting to what was being bowled to him: full and mostly straight.Mendis said that there was great value to Mathews’ innings, particularly in the situation they found themselves in at the fall of the second wicket. He also praised Mathews for his knock in this oppressive weather.”[Angelo Mathews] made a hundred, but [because of the heat and humidity] it can count as 150 or 170,” Mendis said. “There was so much heat. It is a little bit more than Sri Lanka. He played very well. He is the most senior guy in the Sri Lanka team. He played a dominating innings. I think it would be good if he goes on to make 150 or 200 tomorrow. The wicket was good, so we [told each other] that we can’t panic. A batter struggles for the first ten balls, but after that, he can play well.”There was praise from across the dressing room too. Mathews’ old team-mate Rangana Herath, who is now Bangladesh’s spin bowling coach, said the 34-year-old has a lot of drive to do well at the top level.”I know Angelo very well,” Herath said. “We have played a lot of games together. He always has the hunger to play for his country. Whether he is 34 or 36, he is always looking for a challenge. To be honest, as a Sri Lankan it was a fantastic hundred in the heat. I am sure he will continue to do a lot of things for Sri Lanka.”Herath said that the Bangladesh spinners did well for the first day of a Test in Chattogram, where the pitch was mostly unresponsive, on top of the heat.”Especially on the first day of a Test match, I am happy with how the bowlers did. Shakib and TJ [Taijul Islam] bowled well. Nayeem also took two wickets. He hasn’t played much cricket in the last 18 months but he has been practising a lot. In that case, I saw that he needed a bit of confidence, but when he got that wicket off the first ball, his confidence [was restored]”Bangladesh are hoping to shut Sri Lanka down within another 120 runs, but the visitors are targeting a 500-plus total on this pitch. If Mathews continues to play the way he did on Sunday, it will make things much easier for them. Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella, Ramesh Mendis and the tail have to give him company for as long as possible, but Mathews knows what he has to do. Experience matters. You can’t put a price tag on what Mathews brings to the table.

The ACC’s decision to have an all-female umpires’ panel at the Asia Cup has opened doors for the likes of Saleema Imtiaz

Mohammad Isam03-Oct-2022Like all debutants, Saleema Imtiaz had a bout of the nerves when she officiated in an international match for the first time, earlier this week in the India vs Sri Lanka game at the Women’s Asia Cup. But it lasted all of one ball. She has umpired at the domestic level for more than a decade, so once the ball was set rolling, she was in her comfort zone.For Saleema, and many others, the Asian Cricket Council’s decision to appoint an all-female group of umpires for the tournament, being held in Sylhet, has meant new opportunities.”I have been umpiring for 15 years, but I was shocked when I got called by the Asian Cricket Council,” Saleema told ESPNcricinfo. “I was a little nervous making my international debut. It is a first exposure for me. I was obviously very excited. But it was a great experience. When the first ball was bowled in the match, I became confident. I told myself, ‘I can do this’.”It is a great opportunity from the ACC to the female umpires and match referees. We are from different countries and cultures, but we are here like a family. We support each other. We teach each other. There should be more such opportunities. The male umpires have been doing it in previous Asia Cups. I think we are doing a good job. I also want to thank the PCB for selecting us.”

“Males don’t have as many problems as females, especially in Asian countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan. If they trust their daughters, wives and mothers, they will bring honour to the family”Saleema Imtiaz

She isn’t the only one from Pakistan at the Asia Cup, there’s also Humaira Farah. And there a number of umpires and other match officials from other Asian countries, including from Qatar, Malaysia and the UAE.Saleema started umpiring in 2006 after taking part in a course conducted by the PCB. Prior to that, her career as a player had been a short one – she played just couple of years of domestic cricket. She also works as a sports coordinator at Karachi’s Nixor College. As for the dream of representing her country as a player, it has been realised through her daughter, Kainat, who has turned out 35 times for Pakistan since her debut in 2010 and is in Sylhet with the Asia Cup team too.Their paths have crossed on the field, but they have been quiet affairs.”I stood umpire in two one-day matches that Kainat was playing, she didn’t bother me at all,” Saleema said. “I also don’t think I bothered her. We have different job scenarios. She had to perform her role, and I had to perform my role. On the ground, she is not my daughter, and I am not her mother.”That’s when they are on the field together. Otherwise, Saleema is extremely proud of her daughter’s achievements.”I always tell Kainat that she is living my dream. She has to fulfil my dream of playing for Pakistan,” Saleema said. “It is a very proud thing for myself, my family and friends. She gets the whole support of her father. We have never come between her dreams.Kainat Imtiaz has played 15 ODIs and 10 T20Is for Pakistan as a medium pacer•PA Images”I had tears in my eyes when she wore the Pakistan blazer for the first time. It is a great honour for every mother that her child is representing the national team.”The way things have worked out in her family makes Saleema believe that it is possible for women from her country to pursue careers in sports.”I want to tell the families to keep supporting their daughters,” she said. “Let them do what they want to do. Males don’t have as many problems as females, especially in Asian countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan. If they trust their daughters, wives and mothers, they will bring honour to the family.”I am happy that I have a husband who always supports me and Kainat. Her husband also supports her. If a father supports the daughter, she can go out and play with a big heart, that ‘I have the backing of my father’. She will give her all.”

Now a senior in Karnataka’s squad, he’s keen to pass on his learnings to the next generation and help his team end their wait for silverware

Shashank Kishore07-Feb-2023R Samarth is an oasis of calm. It wasn’t this way until recently. Before, cricket was on his mind all the time but ahead of the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy, he learnt to let things go and focus on being “in the moment”. As opposed to worrying about why he was left out that one time or why certain things didn’t come to him when he thought they ought to have.Three months on from the start of the season, Samarth is happy he made that mental shift. If Karnataka find themselves two wins away from their first Ranji title since 2014-15, and their eighth overall, it’s because Samarth, like several others, has played a key role.On Wednesday, Karnataka begin their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Saurashtra at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Without KL Rahul, who is away on national duty, and Karun Nair, who has been dropped, Samarth has had to shoulder much of the batting responsibility, and has notched up 659 runs in 12 innings, the second-most for the team behind Mayank Agarwal’s 686. His tally includes three centuries and two half-centuries.”Earlier, I used to think about cricket all the time,” Samarth tells ESPNcricinfo. “Then I started to realise that I’d drain out midway through. That is when I thought I had to learn to switch on and switch off, else you will burn out. It’s also something that comes with a lot of experience and understanding about your game.”Now, I de-stress by watching a lot of movies or even playing games online or on my PlayStation. It helps bring in a bit of a balance, whether you’ve had a good day or a bad day. Understanding this has helped bring about a change in the way I think about my game, successes and failures.”Samarth, who turned 30 last month, is at a stage in his career where he isn’t worried about competition. Five years ago, he was among the top three openers in the country outside the Test squad. He was an India A regular too, but a poor 2018-19 Ranji season, when he managed just 168 runs in 13 innings, set him back.He hasn’t played for India A since, and has seen several players leapfrog him. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Prithvi Shaw have been dominating the scene from Mumbai, Abhimanyu Easwaran’s made a mark through his performances for Bengal. Then there’s his own colleague, Devdutt Padikkal, who made an early impression in his debut season.Samarth accepts there’s a lot more he could have achieved, but doesn’t want to be weighed down by the baggage of the past.”Most definitely, that was important lesson in my life,” he says of the drop in form. “That taught me you can’t take anything for granted. It was just that in those six-seven games that I didn’t get runs, and those games were crucial as it made a huge impact on my graph. If I’d carried on and done well in that one season that I didn’t do well, it would’ve made a lot of difference.”How does he look at his current run of form in light of everything that has happened since?”Personally, I’m very happy with the way the season has gone,” he says. “At the start of the season, I realised that if I have to make a statement, I have to score big hundreds and a good number of hundreds, and get a lot of runs over the span of the league phase. That was in my head. That hunger to do better, I probably had a lot more of it this season.”That hunger, Samarth says, has also come about because of healthy competition within his team. He’s seen Rahul and Agarwal pile on the runs to make the cut for India, learnt from Nair and Manish Pandey, and now, as a senior, is trying to nurture the next set of players like Vishal Onat, Padikkal and Nikin Jose.”We keep pushing each other,” he says. “When you see one of us get runs, it pushes you and motivates you to get better. We push each other, all of them are quality players. We’ve all grown up together [Agarwal, Pandey, Nair], get along really well. We help each other out, that’s one massive plus in the Karnataka dressing room.”Samarth made his debut in 2013-14, when Karnataka went on to win the first of their two back-to-back Ranji crowns. Now, nearly a decade later, he’s the backbone of this team that is yearning to add to their silverware. For Samarth, life has come full circle.”As a vice-captain, it’s really important for me to be able to contribute to the team in terms of strategy and tactics,” he says. The onus is on us as senior batters to lead the way. That said, I’m not under any pressure as such.”My role hasn’t changed but in terms of experience, I feel I am in a better position to help the younger players coming through, and that comes with confidence in your own game and abilities, which is where I am at this point.”When I entered the dressing room for the first time, I immediately saw guys like Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar, Robin Uthappa, Stuart Binny, Manish Pandey, Ganesh Satish – some of them legends. Playing with them was unreal. I was taken aback by that level of professionalism. All these guys had the mindset to play for the country, and here I was thinking I’d achieved something massive by just making my debut.”I realised then that the extra hours you put in, that relentless pursuit, that drive – all those things make a massive difference. So I talk to my colleagues now about that feeling and how you deal with it. End of the day, we all grow together as players and it’s important to be able to give back to the team as an experienced player.”Samarth is already a Ranji Trophy winner. But piloting his team to the title in 2022-23, as a senior, would give him bigger satisfaction.”That would be the icing on the cake. It would be the ultimate crowning glory.”

He may have hit three fifties in four games, but the Delhi Capitals captain seems a shadow of himself

Alagappan Muthu11-Apr-20232:50

Tait: Warner seemed ‘pretty frustrated’

David Warner is fun to watch. And we don’t even need to put him on a cricket field for that. At the height of Covid-19, his social media was getting more views than cat videos as he and his family made the best of being stuck home.On Tuesday against Mumbai Indians, he walked onto the pitch in full hype mode. Short purposeful steps that allowed him to practically lap Prithvi Shaw to the crease. Whirling the hand in his right hand. Then his left. Then holding it horizontally with both hands and hoisting it over his head as he stretched his back out. All part of the routine that gets him ready to do what he does well.Set up a T20 innings.About an hour or so into the game, he unleashed a big pull shot and screamed. He arrived at the non-strikers’ end and punched that piece of wood in his hands. In the dugout, his team-mates were on their feet applauding. The big screen was showing that he had completed a third fifty in four innings this IPL.But nothing lifts his mood because he took 43 balls to get there.Warner was T20 before T20 went mainstream. A batter who saw the game in black and white. There’s a little round thing coming down at him. His job was to whack it as hard as possible. Usually, that resulted in him hitting a silly number of boundaries. The count is 820 right now in the IPL. Only one person in the history of the tournament has managed more – Shikhar Dhawan with 873, but he’s only there because he’s played 46 more innings.ESPNcricinfo LtdWarner at his peak is minimalist. He isn’t 360. And yet even now he is a threat every time he walks out to the middle. That’s largely because he is able to hit fours and sixes even while targeting orthodox areas in the field. The only luxury he affords himself are those switch hits.In 2016, when he led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the IPL title, he scored 63.4% of his 884 runs with shots he could just stand and admire. Right now, although he is the second-highest scorer of the season, only 51.7% of his 220 runs have come in boundaries.In 2021, after becoming the first player to score 500 runs in six straight IPL seasons, he had the same problem. Only 49.2% of his 195 runs came from hits to the fence.Other batters do singles and twos. Warner does fours and sixes. The irony is that he is actually trying. Look at his lofted shot percentage through recent IPLs. They’re all similar. He’s actually trying to hit more out of the park than he did in 2016. The problem is they aren’t happening. His strike rate when trying to go over the top in 2023 is 245.9 – the lowest it’s been in seven years.In Delhi, he was faced with a pitch that was slow and did not enable stroke play once the ball got older and the field restrictions were removed. These aren’t the best conditions for a batter like Warner, especially in this kind of form, and it became painfully apparent in the 18th over when he missed back-to-back slower balls and one of them knocked the wind out of him.The exact opposite was happening at the other end. Axar Patel was smoking everything. Dude was responsible for nine out of the 10 boundaries that Delhi Capitals hit while he was at the crease and the secret to his success was very simple.”When I saw the surface, the ball was stopping and coming,” Axar told the broadcasters in the mid-innings interview. “So I had to figure out what shots of mine will come off on a slow pitch. I was trying to hold my shape and going for balls in my hitting area. On this surface, it was important to hold my shape and I was trying just that. I was not trying to hit too hard.”Warner just wasn’t able to do that. He was kept quiet early on by a set of bowlers working to a plan – do not give width; do not let him free the arms. Later, when he knew he couldn’t bide his time anymore, he was too anxious to make contact; he was too anxious to find the release shot that sets him on his way. It even clouded his thinking. There was a ball in the 13th over where he shaped to flick, then changed his mind to sweep, and finally did nothing with it.Axar was India’s second highest scorer in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He sometimes bats at No. 5 for them in limited-overs cricket. Capitals might even think of pushing him up there based on his 54 off 25. It is probably no coincidence that this man whose career is on the rise played the innings of the game on a tough pitch whereas the other guy under pressure to be the team’s best batter, to be their captain and make up for the loss of Rishabh Pant and to prove that he’s still good enough to play in the next Ashes is messing up.Above all, there’s a sense that Warner seems to be wanting it a bit too much. And it keeps backfiring. In the eighth over, he faced a free hit right-handed hoping to make the favourable match up work against the offspin of Hrithik Shokeen. All he got was a miscued single. It feels like he’s overthinking, which is blocking him from doing the one thing that makes him a great batter. See ball. Hit ball. The moment he gets back to that, he’ll be fine and we’ll be spoiled.

The first real signs of professionalism are starting to seep into the women’s cricket structure in the country

S Sudarshanan02-Mar-2023It was unusually usual.England’s Alice Capsey, Australia’s Laura Harris and USA’s Tara Norris were swarmed by journalists on the sidelines of a Delhi Capitals event in Mumbai ahead of the inaugural Women’s Premier League. A large number of media people gathering around players is not unusual in Indian cricket. But it is for women’s cricket.This could be the ‘new normal’ for most of the 87 players that are part of five teams in the WPL for a large part of March. That the nuts and bolts of the tournament have been put together inside the best part of one and a half months is atypical for one with the magnitude of the WPL. The auction for media rights was held in mid-January which was then followed by bidding for teams at the end of the month. The player auction was then held in mid-February, barely a fortnight after the five franchises were confirmed.Related

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Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians were among the first teams to already have a scouting network in place. RCB zeroed in on Ben Sawyer as head coach, who in director of cricket Mike Hesson’s words, has been “bandied around by a number of people, a number of different countries as an expert in the field of women’s cricket.” Sawyer was assistant coach of Australia when they won the Women’s World Cup last year and was head coach when he guided New Zealand to a bronze-medal finish at the Commonwealth Games. Former England captain Charlotte Edwards, another successful coach in women’s game, was locked in by Mumbai.The inaugural WPL will start just six days after the end of the T20 World Cup. That isn’t give a whole lot of time for the players to settle into brand new teams and figure out how they work together. Heck, some of them have only just arrived into the country.Australia’s title-winning captain Meg Lanning landed in Mumbai on Thursday morning, only hours before the start of the event in which she was named Capitals’ captain. Their key allrounder, South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp, touched down only later in the day.”That’s the biggest challenge,” Lanning said. “We have got players from all over India and all around the world coming together in a very short space of time. I think the key is getting to know each other away from cricket – we spend a bit of time at training but also the time at the hotel and events like this – what they like doing what they don’t like doing. Once you get that right, the on-field stuff takes care of itself.”Delhi Capitals players Aparna Mondal, Alice Capsey, Meg Lanning, Jemimah Rodrigues and Arundhati Reddy•AFP via Getty ImagesUnderstandably team-bonding activities have been at the forefront of most sides. Mumbai shared how their players indulged in playing UNO while Gujarat Giants created reels using popular songs.”This is the beauty – you have very less time and you have to be on the spot,” Mumbai captain Harmanpreet said. “Everyone has been playing cricket for so many years. The only thing [different] is that we are going to play with different players. Sport is something which gives you so much confidence when you are friendly with your team-mates. Knowing each other gives you a lot of confidence on the field. Team activity is helping us a lot to know each other.”The WPL teams began their training camps with largely the Indian domestic players and the overseas ones that were not part of the T20 World Cup. While Mumbai, Capitals, Giants and UP Warriorz used various grounds around Mumbai, Royal Challengers worked out on their home turf at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru before landing in Mumbai on Wednesday. Mumbai even held a couple of intra-squad matches over the week, giving them a better idea about the abilities of the players at their disposal.Edwards leans on batting coach Devika Palshikar and mentor and bowling coach Jhulan Goswami for their inputs on local players as well as helping her communicate better with the Indian players. Jonathan Batty, Capitals’ head coach, has assistant coach Hemalata Kala and fielding coach Biju George who know the Indians in the set-up well.”I have embraced the challenge of coming over here and not knowing a lot of people but getting to know the players has been truly wonderful,” Edwards said. “Jhulan and Devika have been instrumental in helping me with India domestic players and they have a lot of knowledge of those players. I’ve been very impressed by the young talent we have got in Mumbai. If I can get the best of the young players in this squad, it’ll make Harman’s job a lot easier.”Familiarity between players and coaches can make things a tad easier. In the Women’s Big Bash League last year, Batty coached Melbourne Stars for whom both Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey played. All three are part of the Capitals now. Batty also led the Oval Invincibles that had Kapp in it to back-to-back titles in the women’s Hundred.Mumbai Indians Women’s head coach Charlotte Edwards interacts with players during a practice session•Mumbai IndiansSawyer has coached Sydney Sixers, for whom Ellyse Perry and Erin Burns play. All of them are part of Royal Challengers now. Sawyer is also the head coach of New Zealand, who are led by Sophie Devine, also of RCB. It is the first time Rachael Haynes is coaching a side, but she has her former Australia team-mates Beth Mooney (as captain), Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham and Annabel Sutherland in the Giants squad to work with. Jon Lewis at Warriorz will have a couple of familiar faces in Lauren Bell and Sophie Ecclestone.”I think it’s just about owning your area of expertise,” Sawyer said about coming together as a group in a time crunch. “They’re all experts in their area. As a head coach, it’s my responsibility to bring all that together, but I really want them to stand up and enter and own their own area.”I was a teacher before I was a coach. And it’s really that learning aspect, that’s really important. Whatever happens within the competition, these girls [should] get something out of working with us. And if they can do that at every franchise they go to or every competition they’re ever involved in, then they’re going to come back to RCB next season as even better cricketers and that’s what we always want.”These are perhaps the first real signs of professionalism starting to seep into the women’s cricket structure in India. Without such a robust competition, India have been able to be among top contenders in global tournaments. The WPL could probably empower them to finally win that elusive World Cup.

Oppenheimer or Barbie? Let England’s Old Trafford heroes help you decide

Vithushan Ehantharajah21-Jul-2023Months of build-up had whetted the appetite. After all the talk, all the noise and, crucially, all the hypotheticals, Friday morning brought with it a flash alert in the top right corner of our minds like an overdue Zoom call. It was time to make a decision.There was much to consider. How would you meld free-wheeling fun and cascading disaster-dom? What is the right balance to strike with sparkling entertainment and rallying against what could be the end of what we have in front of us? The pressure was in itself the reward; to know you engaged in a generational cultural event. Yet the inherent risk was the incorrect decision would only reveal itself once it had all played out. By stumps on day three, England were more than satisfied with theirs.It began with Nolan-scale bombs from Jonny Bairstow followed by a happy-go-lucky protagonist in Mark Wood digging deep for raw truths Australia’s top order could not handle. And as England rest on Friday evening still leading by 162 with six second innings wickets to take, they can be satisfied they made all the right calls. Even if the rain does scupper their hopes of keeping the Ashes alive for a decider at the Kia Oval, they have nailed every day of this fourth Test.Related

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Bairstow’s destruction was a manifestation of his own gloom, at a time when things could not have been better for the team. He arrived at the crease following the dismissal of Ben Stokes at the start of the 84th over, by which point England were 437 for 5 with a first-innings lead of 120.There was a moment when continuation of the innings felt impractical. Particularly when Bairstow, up against a new-ball-wielding Mitchell Starc, struggled. His first two boundaries were inside edges narrowly missing his stumps. England were going great – was this really the time to sour it with another Jonny failure?His baggage coming into Manchester was sizeable. An average of 23.50 into Manchester weighed on him like an anchor, a figure helped by a 78 in the first innings at Edgbaston which made up more than half of his runs for the series. Each of the seven missed catches and botched stumping were arrows still lodged in his back. The Lord’s stumping by Alex Carey was unrequited misery on the stumped and superfluous fervour for an Ashes series.For the most part, Bairstow has kept his counsel, but he eventually reached a point of wanting to put his side across. Perhaps articulate the left leg he said wouldn’t be a problem 10 months after a catastrophic break was so much more of one than people knew. Even though he himself dismissed the idea it would be a few months ago.That was to be expected of course given Bairstow’s staunch resolve. If he did not want it to be a problem, it was not going to be a problem. And as much as many wanted to believe him, particularly making Bazball what it was with four hundreds amid 681 runs last summer, it was time to be real. That maybe that Jonny was gone. That maybe the end of who we knew and what we knew was upon us. Until he set about this hellacious retaliation.

The glare up at the media centre as Bairstow walked off on 99 not out said all you needed to know about how he has regarded the coverage over his series so far

The first shot out of the screws was a crunch through point of Josh Hazlewood, with the second right after, this time drilled straight down the ground. A two off the third delivery in that sequence took England up to 501. The first six – Starc pumped off his hip over deep backward square leg – spoke of a return to 2022 vintage. It also brought up his half-century.The 24 deliveries from 55 to 98 were an IMAX-level attack on the senses. Each boundary was a deafening reverberation, a crescendo of dread from an Australian perspective, as if scored by Hans Zimmer himself.The transformation of Bairstow in front of us was remarkable. A man who had previous looked so out of sync with the cricket being played around him was now controlling it. When partnered with James Anderson as the final stand, he found singles where there shouldn’t have been to get the No. 11 off strike. One was taken to silly point, three to Carey, who is now one-and-four for underarm direct-hits while standing back in this series. Even the batter-keeper or keeper-batter debate was changing in front of our eyes. Yeah, Ben Foakes is great. But can he do this?The glare up at the media centre as Bairstow walked off on 99 not out said all you needed to know about how he has regarded the coverage over his series so far. And in many ways, it was a shame – or perhaps a relief – he did not get to three figures. There’s every chance he might have torched the joint in celebration.After a break far too brief to consider the previous hours, England were back out there with a 275 lead. Quite apart from anything, even turning thoughts away from the storms on the horizon, you could argue the greatest trick Stokes has pulled as captain is convincing his team the grind is fun, whether that’s fielding for long periods or bowling yourself into the ground.Jonny Bairstow launches another six over deep square leg•Getty ImagesPerhaps the best example of both those traits is Wood. Too off-the-wall to be a competitor. Too nice to bowl earth-shatteringly quick. Too brittle to be as enthusiastic with his movements. And too good for Australia in his two Tests so far. All through a commitment to pushing himself to the brink.The return at Headingley was greater in pace and wickets than any could have expected. And with constant fears over his ability to go back-to-back, even with the week between the third and fourth Test, the turnaround of just over a day between first and second innings was something to consider.But as Wood prised out Usman Khawaja with extra bounce, jumped wider to create an angle on a short ball to Steven Smith which was gloved behind, and then almost took Travis Head’s face off to get him caught at fly gully, all those assumptions were skewered. All those unsure whether to consider Wood a robust Test bowler either converted or left to look foolish as the conversation moves on.He now has 101 Test dismissals, with an overnight average of 29.30 that could get lower by the end of this match. It could also get higher, but we saw why the 33-year-old has been a key reason this series has been tilted on its head. That he has removed Smith twice in this match will be a memorable haul in itself for a person who has doubted his worth as an international cricketer, even with medals in his collection to remind him otherwise.The game remains there to be won. The battle with the elements now the biggest on the horizon, at least as far as day four is concerned. But as far as Friday was concerned, things played out as well as could be expected.Bairstow’s destruction and Wood’s effervescence gave all within English cricket the perfect experience of the hosts’ most perfect day of the series. And in the right order, too. It has to be before .

“Over here on good wickets, you have to have a couple of balls up your sleeve that you can go to under pressure”

Deivarayan Muthu14-Oct-2023October 5, 2023, Ahmedabad. Trent Boult vs Liam Livingstone.It’s no secret that Livingstone is particularly strong at pumping the ball over the leg side. The old ball isn’t swinging or reversing for Boult. He denies Livingstone access to the leg-side boundary by darting four balls wide of off stump. He then dangles the bait by angling a ball into the stumps and has him chipping a catch to long-on. This isn’t any ordinary ball. This is a knuckle ball.Just over a week later, against Bangladesh at Chepauk, Boult rolls out another knuckle ball without any discernible change in his arm speed, and has Towhid Hridoy scooping a catch to short extra-cover.Related

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Boult has always been an outstanding operator with the new ball. How outstanding? Since his ODI debut in 2012 in Basseterre, nobody has taken more wickets in the first ten overs of an innings than Boult, who has 88 wickets in 106 innings at an economy rate of 4.16. The ODI landscape has changed since, and Boult is adapting to it by adding some new tricks to his repertoire.He revealed that he has been working on perfecting the knuckle ball for about two-and-a-half years. The variation had also served him well during his title-winning stint with MI New York in the inaugural MLC competition.”Yeah, practice. The old cliché,” Boult said after New Zealand beat Bangladesh in Chennai on Friday. “Yeah, I touched on [it] with Athers (Michael Atherton) at the half-time break that I’ve been lucky enough to play with some decent bowlers over the years, and sharing secrets and asking questions is always the way forward. But yeah, I think over here on good wickets, you have to have a couple of balls up your sleeve that you can go to under pressure, and touchwood, it’s coming out all right; I enjoy bowling it.”The latest knuckle ball brought Boult his 200th ODI wicket in his 107th match in the format. He is the third fastest to the landmark after Australia’s Mitchell Starc (102 matches) and Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq (104).”Yeah, I’m very proud of it,” Boult said. “It’s come with a bit of hard work and, you know, I’ve always enjoyed-one day cricket, and there’s been days where it’s been a lot more successful than others, but very good feeling to tick off 200. It is pretty exciting.”

“It has happened pretty quickly… challenge will be moving around the country with the different wickets and conditions that we face”Trent Boult on New Zealand’s three wins in three games so far

Boult had initially struggled to make the age-group representative teams – he wasn’t even in the Bay of Plenty Under-17 team – the level below Northern Districts, but he kept levelling up. Like, at 18, he made it to New Zealand’s Under-19 World Cup team that also featured Kane Williamson and Tim Southee. Even before he had played senior provincial cricket for Northern Districts, Boult made his first-class debut for New Zealand A against India A in Chennai in 2008. Fifteen years on at the same venue, Boult showed that he continues to evolve as a bowler.Boult also backed the current New Zealand team to adapt to the different conditions that will be thrown at them at this World Cup in India.”Yeah, it [three wins in three games] has all happened pretty quickly obviously,” Boult said. “It’s been a busy schedule, but I think I said earlier in an interview in this tournament that the challenge will be moving around the country with the different wickets and conditions that we face.”But the guys have been clinical so far and delivered the plans that we’ve spoken about with the ball, and yeah, the batting is going nicely as well. So [we] understand there’s a lot of cricket still to come, but it’s a good position to be in three from three.”Boult – and New Zealand – have a well-earned day off on Saturday before they resume training at Chepauk for their game against Afghanistan at the same venue on October 18.

One team used the reverse-sweep to maximum effect, while the other tried to play their normal game in an abnormal Test match

Alagappan Muthu28-Jan-20242:26

Manjrekar: Indian batters found wanting temperamentally in Hyderabad

In the 15th over of the second of two rip-roaring defences happening about 10,000 kms apart, Rohit Sharma played a reverse sweep.He played it about as well as you’d expect a man who has played it only seven times before in his entire Test career. Bazball has done a lot of hard-to-believe things since it started. Add making Rohit look off-putting to the list.India’s captain had to go to such extreme measures because the previous ball he was beaten pushing forward to defend. And he was beaten again, pushing forward to defend, the ball after that reverse sweep.Pushing forward to defend is the ball that the spinner had to bowl in Hyderabad.Pushing forward to defend is the ball India couldn’t bowl in Hyderabad.Related

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At every available opportunity – and even sometimes when it didn’t quite present itself – England went for those sweeps and reverse sweeps and they nailed ’em. It eventually got to the point where they were setting records.Since 2014, only once has a team made more runs with those shots in India, and that was England in Chennai 2021 when Joe Root, who loves to take that broom out too, made a double-century.Ninety-two runs in 56 balls, including 18 of the 42 boundaries, would be handsome returns on their own. But they had another more profound effect. All of a sudden India’s great strength – the axis of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – was prevented from doing what they’ve done for years and years: land six balls on roughly the same spot, pulling and pushing the batter around the crease, picking away at their technique and making them question all of the life choices that had led them up to this moment.Having to protect unusual areas in the field, Rohit hedged his bets. He had sweepers out on both sides of the ground, sometimes as many as five, which meant India couldn’t really build up to a dismissal. An England team that was seven down still scored 72 runs in an hour of play, with 27 singles, four twos and three threes this morning. Rohit had good reason to spread the field out – India were already behind in the game and they were batting last so he couldn’t risk giving away easy runs. Also, by this point, the pitch had become really slow. Like rainbow wheel of death slow. There was enough time for batters to adjust to the turn after the ball bounced.India had been forced into a corner. “It happens,” their bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said on Saturday.Maybe. Yeah. But at home? Never before had a lead of 190 resulted in defeat.KS Bharat is knocked over by Tom Hartley•BCCIEngland here was the first time in 11 years that a visiting side had made more than 400 in their second innings. And they came at breakneck pace. 4.11 an over. Only 9.9% of the spinners’ overs were maidens, the lowest figure for India since Jadeja and Ashwin started playing Test cricket together.This doesn’t happen. This was a dream. An unreal fever dream.Rohit pushes forward to defend again. Only this time the balls stays the course. It doesn’t leap past the outside edge like a show pony. It slithers in, past his inside edge and onto his front pad. He’s out lbw. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, at tea on the fourth day, India had made nine runs from 56 good-length balls for the loss of two wickets. England had made almost half their total – 198 – off of these deliveries.They had their luck, of course. Ollie Pope was not in control of a third of the sweep shots that he played, including one that would’ve dismissed him had it not been for a fielding lapse. But he never stopped trying. That is why Mhambrey said he was brave. You take a significant risk playing like that – looking stupid if it doesn’t come off – but what it also did – if you practice it as hard as England do, if you commit to it as well as England did – is throw off arguably the most disciplined bowling attack in Test cricket.Pope made a century with just his sweeps. The story behind that, in his words: “They’re very skilled bowlers, the guys that we were facing and you can pretty much know where each ball is going to land and if you’re trying to defend each ball there’s probably more of a chance you’re going to get out rather than if you’re going cross-batted shots. And I feel like we’ve practiced those shots enough that if you get out for none playing the reverse sweep, you’re not going to get a lot of chat in the change room about that.”So I think you can go and just commit to it. I don’t think I nailed one for my first 20 odd runs and I was like why isn’t it hitting the middle of the bat. But out here it could be as safe as a defence playing reverse sweep or a sweep and I think if we keep sort of nailing that we get more bad balls as batters if we can hit their best ball for four with the reverse sweep then that can lead to more short balls and more half-volleys and that opens up the whole field.”Ollie Pope used the reverse-sweep to maximum effect•BCCIIndia, on the other hand, preferred to ride the risk that the good length ball presented. They were happy use the full face of the bat, even when they weren’t to the pitch of the delivery, in conditions that offered uneven turn and bounce. This exposed both their inside and outside edges – in Shubman Gill’s case even the middle of his blade didn’t help – as Tom Hartley, Joe Root and Jack Leach held their disciplines superbly. They were allowed to. India attempted only 18 sweeps or reverse sweeps.Perhaps England could be that bit more cavalier because they had little to lose. They were trailing by 190 runs when they launched the attack that secured them a victory that will rank alongside Mumbai and Kolkata 2012. To be that far off the pace and still make that many moves without conceding even in the slightest bit to doubt. It’s remarkable.Did India concede to doubt? Maybe. Maybe not. What they did though is to try and play normally in this abnormal Test match which has had 25,000 people visit the ground on each day, which has seen over 1000 runs scored at rapid pace even though the pitch was a selectively-watered turner, which in the end only turned because for the sixth time in history a batter overhauled his team’s deficit all on his own and which had a spin attack comprising a guy on one leg, another who describes himself as “right-arm optimistic” and two with a combined one Test’s experience outbowl Ashwin and Jadeja.One method doesn’t necessarily trump the other. In fact there’s a strong argument to be made for both teams just sticking to the ways that’s brought them immense success. It’s just that one of them made history and the other could only come close.

And it had to do with Pat Cummins, his man-management skills, and the freedom he gave Head to play the way he wanted to without fear of failure

Shashank Kishore19-Apr-2024Travis Head remembers the April of 2021 very well. He was at the Flinders Ranges, 450km north of Adelaide, at a camping trip, half-anxious about a decision that would soon change his career trajectory.He had just been axed from Cricket Australia’s central contracts, but was oblivious to the call made in the boardroom because he was in a no-network zone. For two full days, CA’s attempts to reach him to convey their decision proved futile. Eventually, with a Wi-Fi network somewhere near the second-highest point at Flinders Range, Head got the information. He bottled his disappointment, not wanting to ruin a vacation with the family of his wife-to-be, but he knew he needed to break out of his pattern of thrilling and frustrating in equal measure.Three Aprils on, sitting in New Delhi as one of the pace-setters of IPL 2024 for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Head remembers that period as the one that proved to be the catalyst for change and made him a powerplay behemoth.Related

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So far this IPL, he has been able to unlock the genius everyone thought he was capable of when he came into the tournament eight years ago, playing alongside Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers at Royal Challengers Bengaluru.Just last week, Head clubbed a hair-raising fourth-fastest IPL hundred, off 39 balls, at the same venue where he failed to make an early first impression at the IPL all those years ago.”I just look at probably a period of time which was around when I lost my contract,” Head says. “I went away for South Australia [his domestic team], played well and found myself back in the team around that Ashes series in [December] 2021.”Prior to that series, a reassuring conversation with Australia’s new Test captain Pat Cummins set into motion a series of small but significant events that Head believes have become life-changing. He has already won a World Test Championship title and a 50-over World Cup crown over the past year, and now has his sights set on T20 World Cup glory.”The change in guard with him [Cummins] being captain – and I guess the confidence he gave me to go out and play the way I do in domestic cricket – I probably look back as the moment [when things turned],” Head says of his second coming. “And again, it’s never guaranteed, but I was able to go out and get runs in that Test [in Brisbane, where he made 152] ] and start what has been the last three years.”The crux of that chat with Cummins was that Head should forget that his place was under scrutiny. It was, at its core, Cummins’ man-management principle at play. Head went from “playing not to get out” to “playing to score runs”, apart from freeing himself mentally.”I chill maybe with a round a golf here and there”•Getty Images”I played probably a little bit more aggressively while I still worked hard on my technique and a few things. But I sort of hit a moment in the road where it didn’t really matter if I didn’t play for Australia again,” he says. “I would love to have, but if it wasn’t to be, it probably gave me a bit more of that more relaxed, [and] comfortable sort of environment and attitude around things.”Head can’t thank Cummins enough for his role in insulating him from the pressures an elite sportsperson could face from time to time.”In terms of leadership, around that Ashes series, he had a conversation with me around how he wanted to see me play and how he wanted me go about it, which obviously we’ve seen the progress of and the results from – which has been nice – and then here I think he’s been really good,” he says. “I think a lot of guys obviously asked [me] about him leading into this IPL. The Indian guys, when I got here, asked about what he’s going to be like, and I said he would be really relaxed, be really calm and someone who talks a lot of sense. He’s very measured and understands the game, and he’s just really, really well-rounded off the field.”He’s really enjoyable to be around; he creates a really good environment. That’s very inclusive. That’s very enjoyable. That’s very relaxed. And I think you’re seeing that in the way we’re playing that game style about being aggressive and relaxed. But I think you’ll also be seeing guys play with a smile on their face and really stepping forward into that pressure. And I think that’s what he’s asking the guys [to do].””He’s really enjoyable to be around; he creates a really good environment” – Travis Head on Pat Cummins•ICC/Getty ImagesHead revealed that taking the attack to the bowlers in the powerplay this IPL has been a team decision that came with everyone knowing they will be backed the same way even if it were to fail on the odd occasion, like it did against Punjab Kings when SRH found themselves 39 for 3 after five overs, which left them needing to significantly change their Impact Player strategy.They eventually made 182 and won by two runs, but it merely reaffirmed their commitment to a brave new approach that has changed the way teams look at them this IPL.”Being asked to play [in] this style is, I guess, a little bit foreign for some guys,” Head says. “Some guys can sometimes be worried about the negative side of things. Like, ‘what happens if I don’t get runs; could I find myself out of the team?’ I think you’ll never ever see Pat not back you or not have a smiling face.”And if one of the guys was to hit the bull’s trap in there and walk off – and if it was what we spoke about, and if it was what the captain asked – he’d never be negative around that. And he’s been really vocal about that in the last couple of weeks in the batting line-up – like this is how we want to play.”Having this clarity not just around him, but also the team, has allowed Head to revel at the IPL too. Amid the travel and the chaos in general – of doing things beyond just playing cricket, like commercials and sponsor and media commitments – Head has managed to maintain what he calls a “balance” when he prepares for every game.By that, he means he isn’t always overly intense while studying scenarios or match-ups, and simply works on his own pulse, learning by speaking to his team-mates and using his own experience.”If there’s someone I don’t know [in this IPL], I go to Abhishek Sharma or [to] guys who have faced them•BCCI”I try to maintain a balance, but the balance is probably skewed a little bit to making sure I just go out refreshed and ready to go,” he says. “So I don’t deep dive into a lot of stuff. We’re lucky that we’ve played a lot of these guys around the world, and you see a lot of familiar faces.”If there’s someone I don’t know, I sort of go to Abhi [Abhishek Sharma] or guys who have faced them. And the Indian guys or these guys that have played against them try and tap into conversational stuff. I don’t like to sit around and watch a heap of footage or anything; [rather, I] just try and stay pretty relaxed about things.”Head relaxes by playing a round of golf wherever he can. Prior to knocking the sails out of RCB, against whom he cracked 102 off 41 balls, he spent two full days at a golf resort in Bengaluru’s outskirts.”We have been fortunate to have slightly bigger breaks, which I think can sometimes be good and [sometimes] bad,” he says. “Probably one less day would be nice about things. With training – and there’s no real heavy structure around things – it’s very relaxed. It’s very much [about] ‘get what you need to get done’.”But yeah, I chill maybe with a round a golf here and there, have a couple of nice meals at restaurants or in the hotel with some of the guys, and then getting down to training and having two really good training sessions before a game. That has sort of been the process over the last couple of weeks, and it seems to be working. Like I said, the team is in a great mindset at the moment. It obviously helps winning, but the vibe’s really, really good [too].”

Accurate and near unplayable, the England spinner played hard on the field but always had room for a beer after a well-fought game

Ian Chappell21-Apr-2024There are some humorous and often applicable nicknames in cricket but none more suitable than “Deadly” for Derek Underwood.Derek was a deadly accurate bowler and a fierce competitor who sadly died recently from dementia complications. Despite being a feared competitor, he was a respected opponent.Always – and I mean every night – Underwood was available for an after-play drink in the dressing room. When it came to cricket, two of his main loves were bowling and beer.He employed an extraordinarily long run-up for a spinner and operated nearer medium pace than the typical speed of a slow bowler, but boy, he was accurate. Too speedy to use your feet to, and difficult to drive, he was the hardest spinner to score off who I played against.Related

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Right-hand batters had to scrounge for every run. The highly skilled West Indian Viv Richards was one of the few right-handers who had the courage and the skill to loft him over cover.Nevertheless batters had one thing in their favour. Underwood wore his heart on his sleeve: you knew when he was pissed off. And he was most aggrieved by the sweep shot.Having retired from first-class cricket, I shared a London cab with him in 1977, when only the players knew about the existence of the highly secretive World Series Cricket (WSC). Without divulging much, I said to him, “It’s on again, mate.”Underwood knew exactly what I meant and replied, “That bloody broom – I thought I’d seen the last of it.”The broom was a reference to my penchant for sweeping Underwood. I discovered that was one of the few ways to score off him and, as I said, it annoyed Deadly.He was deservedly pissed off at the Oval in 1972 but for an entirely different reason. A West Indies supporter of Australia in that game constantly called out when Underwood was operating: “Bad-wicket bowler. Don’t let him get you out.”

Batters had one thing in their favour. Underwood wore his heart on his sleeve: you knew when he was pissed off. And he was most aggrieved by the sweep shot

In his self-deprecating manner, Underwood described spin bowling as “a low-mentality profession: plug away, line and length, until there’s a mistake”.As a batter he was not the most gifted but he was determined. He and England’s Tony Greig had a useful partnership at the Gabba in the first Test of 1974-75 before I turned to our golden arm, Doug Walters.Walters dismissed Underwood with his first ball, and when we gleefully congratulated the bowler, he produced a typically smart-aleck retort: “A lesser batsman wouldn’t have got a bat on it.”However it was Underwood’s bowling that deservedly gained him a glowing reputation. On dampish pitches he was nigh unplayable, and his ally Alan Knott was a master wicketkeeper, especially on treacherous pitches. Underwood specialised in the superman ball – up, up and away – but Knott, in typically expert fashion, handled the difficult task of gathering those deliveries easily.It was on such a pitch at Adelaide Oval in 1975 that he took the first seven Australian wickets. Gritty opener Ian Redpath battled his backside off but eventually was incorrectly given out in the final over before lunch. Sitting in the dressing room an exasperated Redpath spat on his bat. The mirth of that moment did not detract from the fact that it had been an engaging sight to watch two highly competitive players involved in such a herculean struggle.In 1975-76 a mixed team of Australians and cricketers from other countries played in an International Wanderers tour to South Africa captained by my brother Greg Chappell and managed by the revered Richie Benaud. A dignitary at a cocktail function in Soweto welcomed the “Australian” team to the city, so I went to Underwood and said, “Congratulations on finally representing a good team.” His answer was unprintable but it definitely included “piss off”.Underwood later signed for WSC and also represented England on the 1981-82 rebel tour of South Africa. His defiant decisions were a mark of his single-mindedness but also of his belief that a professional cricketer should be paid his worth.In a distinctive life after retiring from cricket, the universally popular Underwood was appointed president of the MCC in 2008.It was a privilege to compete against such a tough but exemplary opponent.