All posts by n8rngtd.top

Jonny Bairstow is just the latest cricketer to have injured himself playing football on the eve of a match

Timothy Ellis13-Jul-2014Jonny Bairstow’s football-related ankle injury in Pallekele is just the latest in a long and ignominous list of cricketers who have crocked themselves by swapping one ball-game for another. Here’s a list of XI of the most notableMatt Prior
Prior to his retirement in 2014, the former England keeper spent some time training with Brighton and Hove Albion on an “anti-gravity” machine in a bid to regain his fitness. Unfortunately, Prior couldn’t defy gravity in 2009 when he suffered a back spasm playing football minutes before the Headingley Ashes Test. England subsequently collapsed to 102 all out – the equivalent of a 6-0 thrashing.Joe Denly

One month after the Prior injury, England’s think tank deemed it a good idea to have a kickabout before the start of the ODI series against Australia at The Oval. Unfortunately, Owais Shah crunched opening bat Denly from behind in what Andrew Strauss described as “a bit of a clumsy challenge”. Denly was immediately ruled out with a twisted knee. Owais was barely seen in an England shirt again. And, until his remarkable second coming for this winter’s tour of Sri Lanka, nor was Denly.Yuvraj Singh

During a pre-semi-final World T20 practice session in Dhaka this year, Yuvraj injured himself playing barefoot football, an activity that was apparently advised by the team trainer Sudarshan to break the monotony. However, when someone asked the Indian captain the reason for playing barefoot, captain Mahendra Dhoni said with a straight face: “Paise khatam ho gaye [We don’t have any money left]”.Rohit Sharma

Rohit’s Test debut was delayed by almost three and a half years after he twisted his ankle while playing football ahead of the first Test against South Africa in Nagpur in February 2010. Rohit insisted it was a great way to unwind during a hectic schedule, but some may think he would be better off indulging in his other love – fantasy football. Much safer playing from the sofa.Mark Ramprakash

Never a man to do anything without maximum intensity, “Bloodaxe” was crocked for months before the start of the 2011 domestic season. “I was playing in a game of football on Saturday,” he told the Surrey club website. “And, quite early in the game, I managed to get tangled up with another player.” How very diplomatically put, Mark. The result was serious cruciate ligament damage. Ramps said: “It is a very common football injury.” Mmm. But you are not a footballer.Marlon Samuels

Samuels could so easily have been destined for the Jamaican national football team. “I was going to Kingston College and playing football, but I injured my left knee really bad. The doctor told me no more football. So I went across the street to Melbourne Cricket Club and started playing cricket.” Marlon certainly has the soccer temperament, to judge by his regular on-field run-ins with opponents – Shane Warne and Ben Stokes among them – and his shirt-off celebrations in the wake of the 2016 World T20 win in Kolkata.Ellyse Perry

The glamour girl of cricket, Perry plays for Australia six months of the year and also has a contract with Sydney FC. This has caused some level of jealousy with the women in the poorly paid Australian leagues, given her celebrity endorsements. After suffering a scything tackle in a game against Melbourne Victory, the opposition were reported to have “sledged” her, saying she was too soft for football.Ellyse Perry juggles a professional football career with a cricket one•Getty ImagesMichael Vaughan

The former England captain has probably the dodgiest set of knees in sport, crippled by his inability to stand up without falling down. He suffered a twist warming up for the fourth day of Yorkshire’s game with Worcestershire at Headingley in 2009. Soon after, he quit the game entirely. However, he did score during a charity football match between the British and Australian cricket media in December 2014, virtually the only victory of that disastrous Ashes tour. We’ll gloss over the missed penalty…Shaminda Eranga

Sri Lanka were losing Test matches and players at an alarming rate when Eranga decided to add to the growing list of casualties on the eve of the Sydney Test in January 2013. Already shorn of fast bowlers Nuwan Kulasekera and Chanaka Welegedara, Eranga couldn’t contain his inner footballer and did his ankle. Replacements were flown in off the sub’s bench, but the tour from hell continued at pace.Kieron Pollard

Big-hitting Pollard was ruled out of the West Indies squad for the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh in 2014 after injuring his knee in a ”charity” football game. He was suitably reticent. “Football has cost me six months, a major career-threatening injury, so some things you just have to put on the back-burner, and you learn from that. At the end of the day, I still watch football. I’m a Manchester United fan, so that will be enough.” Hopefully watching the Red Devils that season did not put back the rehabilitation.Ishant Sharma

Ishant suffered a purple bruiser underneath his left eye during a football practice session before the third Test match against West Indies at Windsor Park in 2011. Praveen Kumar jumped in the air to challenge for the ball, only to catch Ishant’s cheekbone instead. It was surely unintentional, although the fiery Praveen has previous. In 2013, the medium pacer head-butted batsman Ajitesh Argal in a Corporate Trophy match between ONGC and Income Tax. Zinedine Zidane would have been proud.This article was first published in July 2014

Stats highlights from the third day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Christchurch

Bishen Jeswant28-Dec-2014Most runs in a calendar year |Create infographics152 Dimuth Karunaratne’s score, the highest by a Sri Lankan batsman when following on. It’s the fifth best by a Sri Lankan opener in Tests outside Asia and Zimbabwe, and the highest in the second innings in these matches.7 The number of Sri Lankan batsmen who have scored hundreds when the team has followed on. Two of the previous six helped draw the game: Sanjeeva Ranatunga’s 100 not out saved the Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 1994, while Mahela Jayawardene’s 119 saved the Test against England at Lord’s in 2006. The only other opener among these seven is Russel Arnold, against England at Old Trafford in 2002.3 The number of Sri Lankan openers with hundreds in New Zealand. The two others are Marvan Atapattu in Napier in 2005, and Asanka Gurusinha in Dunedin in 1995. Both were dismissed for 127.85 Karunaratne’s previous highest Test score, against Australia in Sydney last year.125 Overs that Sri Lanka have played in their second innings, which is already their second best in the 19 matches when they have followed on. Their highest is 199 overs, against England at Lord’s in 2006.2813* Runs scored by Kumar Sangakkara across formats in 2014 (only matches that started in 2014), the second most in a year after the 2833 that Ricky Ponting scored in 2005. Sangakkara needed 28 runs in this Test to go past Ponting’s record, but managed only 1 and 6 in his two innings. Sangakkara has been dismissed in both innings of a Test for 28 runs or fewer only 10 times in his 129 Test career.28 Runs scored by Sangakkara in his last five Test innings against New Zealand. His scores read 5, 0, 16, 6 and 1. In his last five innings against other teams, Sangakkara has scored 395 runs, with scores of 72, 221, 21, 22 and 59.4 Number of Sri Lankan batsman who have followed up a first-innings duck with a second-innings hundred. Apart from Karunaratne, who achieved this in the current Test, Mahela Jayawardene, Aravinda de Silva and Sangakkara are the other Sri Lankans to do this. In all, ten Sri Lankans have scored a century and a duck in the same Test.4 The number of New Zealand bowlers who have taken 30-plus Test wickets in successive calendar years. Trent Boult has done this in 2013 and 2014. The other New Zealand bowlers to achieve this are Iain O’Brien, Richard Hadlee and Chris Martin.

With 1223 runs in the Ranji season and an India debut, 2014 was the best year of Kedar Jadhav’s life. But he also suffered the worst injury of his career so far, and is struggling to make runs amid expectations this time

Amol Karhadkar28-Jan-2015January: Century against Mumbai in Mumbai. That too in the Ranji Trophy knockouts. February: Two-crore (20 million) rupee purse in the IPL auction. April-May: A decent outing in the IPL. July-August: Three match-winning knocks for India A in a quadrangular in Australia. November: ODI debut.Kedar Jadhav has no qualms in admitting that 2014 was the best year of his life so far. But the Maharashtra batsman is quick to add that the year also taught him the real meaning of the cliché about cricket being a “great leveller”. Amid all the memorable achievements, the batsman also suffered the worst injury of his career.When Jadhav reached Australia for the quadrangular series in July, little did he know that he had fractured his wrist. The physio left it up to him whether to pull out of the tournament or to play through pain. The gutsy cricketer chose the option and mauled bowling attacks comprising Ben Cutting, Pat Cummins, Gurinder Sandhu and Sean Abbott to star in India A’s title win.At the end of what he described as his “best overseas tour”, Jadhav was told by the physio “not to lift the bat for two-and-a-half months”. “For the first time since I held a plastic bat as a child, I couldn’t hold a bat for so long,” Jadhav says. “It was frustrating but I knew I had to do it to get back in shape.”The worst impact of his injury was on his preparations for the Ranji Trophy. The injury layoff meant he was not available for Duleep Trophy and his first duel with the red ball would be in the Ranji Trophy. To add to his woes, he was carrying an excess baggage of expectations after the dream run he had with the bat last season.The “1223 season”, as he refers to it, saw him garner the fourth-highest tally for a batsman in a Ranji season. His six hundreds were also only next to VVS Laxman’s eight in 1999-2000.”A 1223 season is nothing but a dream season. Maybe I will get close to scoring 1000 runs again but I doubt if I will ever score 1223 in a season again,” Jadhav says. “Naturally everyone was expecting a lot more from me. So far I haven’t been able to live up to them, which is disappointing. But I am happy that the team is playing more responsibly.”Forget about nearing the 1000-run mark, Jadhav hasn’t been able to get close to half a thousand this season. In nine innings, Jadhav has tallied 276 runs. He attributes his mediocre run to lack of preparation and hopes to improve on it as Maharashtra close in on their second successive knockout berth.”I didn’t get enough time to prepare for the season due to the injury. You need a lot of repetitions when it comes to being at your best with the red ball. You need to spend hours perfecting your strokes. Couldn’t do that ahead of the season and I have been suffering as a result. Hopefully, I can get into the best of shape for the knockouts.”The millions he fetched during the IPL auction and the tag of being an international cricketer were followed by Jadhav buying a swanky BMW. The car gives a sense of achievement on the back of his humble background – Jadhav’s father was a clerk in the state electricity board. He flaunts his car everywhere he goes in Pune – from his favourite coffee shop in the city in the afternoons to public appearances, which have risen considerably over the last year.But Jadhav is quick to clarify that a slight change in lifestyle hasn’t meant he has moved his feet off the ground. “For someone like me who has gone through the grind, I know the importance of domestic cricket. I would have never played for India had I not scored 1200-plus runs in a Ranji season,” Jadhav says. “When you don’t score runs, there are some people who feel you are not serious about domestic cricket. But I know whatever I am is because of my exploits in domestic cricket. And I will try and help my team in doing one step better than the last year and earn an India call-up again.”

In the high art of Pakistani fast bowling, where the short ball is mostly used as a warning, Wahab’s uncomplicated, extreme pace is an indulgence that stands out

Osman Samiuddin11-Mar-2015I’m a sucker so it took only one ball to start believing in Wahab Riaz again. It was the ball of the series in that it is the one delivery I remembered vividly enough to want to see again. For a series in which Rangana Herath took as many wickets as he did, that says something. It didn’t even get Wahab a wicket; there had been two already in the over and so naturally he was pumped.Dhammika Prasad was the recipient, from around the wicket. There had been a flirtatious rumbling between them through the Test, nothing clever, and as subtle as Liberace. Two balls before, Prasad had responded to an extended Wahab stare by dismissively shooing him away, like he was a fly. There wasn’t much pace or bounce at the Sinhalese Sports Club, though that isn’t to say it was death for pace bowlers. Junaid Khan and Wahab took 11 between them (and Junaid didn’t even bowl in the second innings). Better to say subcontinental fast bowlers could find a way on it.This ball didn’t spit up off the pitch as much as rise gradually and ominously, like a giant wave, which, even as it gathers itself, feels somehow slower than it is. Travelling at 139.1kph it wasn’t slow and neither was it super-fast. But at its peak, its threat was all-enveloping, in that there seemed nowhere Prasad could go and nothing he could do other than jerk his head away, throw his bat in front of his heart and hope. It might be deemed his victory that the ball found the bat’s shoulder, looped over gully and fetched him two runs. But to most connoisseurs of fast bowling, the image of Prasad airborne in clumsy self-preservation was the victory, if not quite the “inverted cobra” of bouncer avoidance (see Smith, Robin or Stewart, Alec).Alec Stewart is turned into a comma by Wasim Akram•Getty ImagesIt brought alive the moment and jarred it, like how movies imagine bomb blasts and the camera does a movement between vibrating and outright shaking. Though he had taken two wickets and had bowled another worthy bouncer at Prasad in the first innings, this had a quality of suddenness. It’s like being assaulted by the stun-guitar and rolling ferocity of drums that begin this song immediately after a period of silence (solemn advice: turn it up loud).

****

The Pakistani bouncer is under-celebrated. Nobody much bowled them till Imran Khan came along and his developed into a really nasty one, the kind that stalks batsmen, invading their personal space. Then even Sarfraz Nawaz – big, smart Sarf – got into it, never quick, waddling to the crease like a penguin on fire, but with the one crucial ingredient for bowling bumpers: personality.Wasim Akram’s was vicious mostly because his action was so difficult to pick and the angles with which he came at the batsman. Note the fabled ones, to Sachin Tendulkar, or to Lance Cairns, and to Ewan Chatfield in his second Test; in each case the batsman is blindsided by the ball, as if it shouldn’t be there.The most dangerous was probably Shoaib Akhtar’s, his extreme pace and hyper-extension doubling, tripling its threat. It felled Lara. It felled Kirsten. It pinged Sachin. It cracked Nasser Hussain’s fingers. On November 1, 1999, he bowled one so quick to Matthew Hayden in a game against Queensland, Hayden had time only to raise his bat in back-lift and perhaps see the first blurs of life flashing before him, before the ball struck his right shoulder. Shoaib’s bouncer was so frightening he frightened himself – at least that is what it looked like when he hit Lara and Kirsten.Shoaib’s bouncer frightened batsman and bowler•Getty ImagesThere’s even a magnificent Mohammad Sami
delivery to Sachin in Bangalore, rising into his left armpit, which he fended straight to Asim Kamal at short leg, only for the chance to be dropped. It was thrilling and summed up Sami’s life in two seconds.But the Pakistani bouncer is not the weapon it is for others, because it is almost a counter-intuitive impulse. It is impossible, for instance, to imagine a Pakistani fast bowler winning a series the way Mitchell Johnson did, or West Indian bowlers used to. Pakistani fast bowling, of fuller lengths, is generally high art. It has been known to beat batsmen for pace, sure, but it’s always accompanied by swing, some seam, and plenty of smarts. The bouncer is something they reduce themselves to when they are bored of being highbrow and fancy (at one stage, the Ws used to bounce only to make the ball older). Remember Indiana Jones resignedly taking out the gun on the sword guy? That’s Pakistan and the bouncer, although it also works as a little reveal occasionally: boy, don’t mess with us.Wahab has a terrific bouncer, and right now his ability to consistently bowl a mean, quick one is worth as much as anything else he bowls. It has a little to do with the air around us, heavy still with the feats of Johnson. Who, after all, wouldn’t want a low-arm, left-armed seriously quick bowler who sprays it everywhere but also gets it magnificently, unavoidably right?I don’t think I had actually stopped believing in Wahab per se. It was just that it was easier to believe more in others and, even, heretically, in other methods. Never has Pakistani fast bowling been higher art than in this last decade. It hasn’t been so much about how fast they bowl – though the national obsession remains – but how much they can do with the ball; Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir, Junaid Khan, even Umar Gul were not defined by the singularity of their speeds. Sami, in fact, did plenty on his own to shake the faith in pure pace.Waqar makes Nasser Hussain duck at Lord’s in 2001•Getty ImagesNever has it been higher farce either; every new genius, new waif has arrived as a clown, made of glass, and soon disappeared. Amid so many absences, and with smarter, slower bowlers around, Pakistan could do with someone as uncomplicated as Wahab. He is an indulgence, sure, but also a reminder that it’s never ever a bad thing to have a really, really fast bowler.This, at least, was the rationale of Waqar Younis when he returned to coach Pakistan last year. He had a few bowlers around, good ones too, but there was a kind of sameness, if not in method then in impact. These bowlers could work out and work their way through batting orders rather than explode upon one. His first stint as coach had produced a fairly productive period with Wahab, though Waqar’s worries over his wrist and release were never erased.But this time he stopped worrying excessively about the mechanics of Wahab’s action. Instead he chose to go about him the way you imagine Imran would have with a young Waqar. He had a gut feeling this could be his time. So he had a little life chat with him. He reminded him that he was 29 and that it was about time he started bowling like he was the man, like he was the leader.Perhaps in Wahab, Waqar saw a little of himself, the energy, the presence, the ability to strike. “For me, he’s always been a match-winner, the go-to bowler who you turn to when things are down,” Waqar had said just before the Australia series last year. “When you talk about having an X factor, he’s one of those. I haven’t taught him anything, do this, do that. I just told him, it’s about time, get your act right. I don’t think you can change much, but whatever resources you have – I mean he bowls 145kph and above, and he’s become smarter as well.”Imran Khan’s bouncer invaded your personal space•Getty ImagesHow hard is it really to believe in pure pace? Wahab stood out at the Champions League, and despite an injury that forced him out of much of the winter, he has been the central force in Pakistan’s attack during the World Cup. Here he has been the driving force, the one whose energy the rest have fed off, and the one, above all, who represents the durability of Pakistan’s pace resources. It is a period that has matched the verve of his Test debut, or the Mohali semi-final, one-off moments where it really felt that Pakistan had come upon a thoroughbred.The suspicion that he could still have days like that Asia Cup nightmare in 2012, when his day’s work read 4-0-50-0, is not entirely gone; that his action remains such a delicate, tightly sprung work of the human body that one tiny glitch could see him unravel completely. He still goes for runs. His ODI economy rate since July is actually up on his career figures. Some deliveries, with nothing to them, still look eminently hittable. But those days when he didn’t look like taking a wicket to boot haven’t come round that often: his wickets are coming much cheaper, much quicker.There has been nothing especially fancy. He has controlled and used lengths well, not overdoing changes in pace. The intent has been most visible in his run-up, rushing in with so much energy, so straight and direct it’s easy to see him – and not the ball – continuing down the pitch and clattering into batsmen. When he has got his lines straight most batsmen have had to think solely about protecting their wickets and not which of the ten attacking shots they can play; that inversion is a win. Mostly, though, I think it could just be the realisation that he is Wahab Riaz, a Genuine Pakistan Fast Bowler, and the force of that designation is seeing him through.

Not just with the bat, not just with the ball, not just while fielding. JP Duminy led Delhi Daredevils with an enthusiastic and energetic approach against Sunrisers Hyderabad

Arun Venugopal in Visakhapatnam18-Apr-2015JP Duminy is among the first to emerge from the Delhi Daredevils dug-out during the innings break. He goes up to the practice wicket and fires away darts from round the stumps. Duminy has probably done enough with the bat already: coming in at No. 3, he has scored 54 off 41 deliveries to push his team’s total to 167. But Duminy thinks there is more to be done. He is proved right.With two left-handed openers in David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan, Duminy waits for only as long as the second over to deploy himself. He also shuffles his bowling pack niftily, using four of them in six overs. Sunrisers Hyderabad have by then zoomed to 50 with all their wickets intact.Duminy brings himself back. The first ball goes with the arm. The result is Dhawan’s dislodged bails. Two balls later, Duminy dives to his right and springs up with the ball, and a cry of delight. He has sent back his opposite number, Warner. This is more Duminy the captain at work than Duminy the bowler. Spreading the field out on the leg side, he had handed out the invite for an easy single or two. Duminy then seals the deal with a generously flighted delivery. Warner twirls his bat too early. Leading edge. End of story.Time for bowler Duminy to recede into the background. Time for leader Duminy to front up. He is chattier than usual, but isn’t animated. Another round of bowling shuffle ensues. Three spinners – Imran Tahir, Amit Mishra and Yuvraj Singh – are pressed into action. Meanwhile, KL Rahul and Ravi Bopara have rebuilt smartly, and are looking to amp up the scoring.Duminy recalls Angelo Mathews, who went for 12 runs in his first over. Rahul jumps out of his crease and mistimes his stroke. Ball gets plenty of hang time. Domnic Muthuswami comes underneath the ball nervously from mid-off, and spills it. Duminy doesn’t say anything. Next ball, Rahul flits across his stumps, a tad too much, and Mathews hits the stumps. Duminy waits till the end of the over, and goes up to Muthuswami and has a quiet word, probably about the drop. Hands-on but not overbearing.The chase, however, is hotting up. Bopara has woken up from his slumber and is tonking them all. Tahir sends back Naman Ojha just before the strategic timeout. Duminy has a hand in this, too, hurling himself forward from point to take the catch. 48 required off 24 balls. Duminy returns with the ball after the interval. Bopara is in no mood for pleasantries and whacks the first ball over long-off for six.Duminy is probably seeing parallels of his own innings here: conservative beginning, gradual gear-shifting and then a sprint in the home stretch. Maybe he also remembers he has carved up Bopara for two fours in the slog overs – including one that nearly rammed into the bowler’s knee – and a six. He didn’t spare Dale Steyn either, slapping a shortish delivery over long-on for six. But Duminy is in no mood for return gifts here and bowls one full and wide. Bopara pursues the lofted shot but is caught at long-off.There is still Eoin Morgan to contend with. No problem, says Duminy as he goes round the wicket. Morgan backs away, is late on his shot, and once again Duminy has found the stumps. Surely, he has done enough now? Not yet, as Karn Sharma and Ashish Reddy lay into Tahir and Mathews.Ten needed off six now. Duminy has saved up Nathan Coulter-Nile, Daredevils’ most effective pacer, for this. There are suggestions coming in from everywhere. Yuvraj joins in, so does Mathews. Even Mayank Agarwal is gesticulating excitedly from the deep. Duminy puts the lid on the panic state and gets back to his fielding post.Coulter-Nile begins well; after two quiet deliveries and Reddy’s run-out, seven runs are needed off two. Karn almost clears the boundary, but Agarwal smartly palms the ball away even as the momentum takes him past the fence at deep midwicket. Another round of meeting ensues, as five are needed off the last ball. Duminy speaks what looks like no more than two crisp sentences. Full and wide again, and Sharma holes out to long off.Fifty-four runs, four crucial wickets at less than six an over and some proactive captaincy. That’s the stuff team owners and fantasy-league addicts dream of. Duminy calls the impact he has had on the match a “blessed thing”. Daredevils now have two wins in a row. Rest assured the streak will extend if Duminy has more such blessed days at the office.

BJ Watling watched New Zealand’s journey to the World Cup final from the sidelines but he has been a vital part of their Test resurgence both in front and behind the stumps

Alex Winter18-May-2015It was Iain Duncan-Smith who, as UK Conservative party leader, said do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man. It could be just as easy to misjudge softly-spoken BJ Watling’s appetite for success but he, and his New Zealand side, have captured the public’s imagination far better than Duncan-Smith ever did. Certainly there will not be a vote of no confidence about Watling based in his form of the last 18 months.Like the Conservatives in 2003, New Zealand axed their leader amid an internal mess. But unlike the Conservatives, the benefits were seen almost immediately. Ross Taylor was sacked and Brendon McCullum’s leadership has steered them to success and popularity. Watling was just eight Tests into his career when the rift occurred but, with his inexperience and seemingly general easy-going nature, was able to let the politics pass him by.”There was obviously tension around the squad at that time,” Watling told ESPNcricinfo. “It was tough for us.” A quick comment on the events of December 2012 is an accurate reflection of how the public no doubt looks back too – it was quick, like pulling off a plaster, and everyone has moved on. Watling also brushes off the Cape Town Test, the first of McCullum’s reign as captain, where New Zealand where bowled out for 45 and McCullum locked himself in his hotel room with a beer.What did Watling, playing just his ninth Test, do? “I can’t really remember,” he says genuinely. “I think we definitely learnt a lesson from then. But I don’t think we dwelled on it for too long to be fair. It happened so quickly and it was over. We fought hard in the second innings and we took a lot from that, I had a partnership with Dean Brownlie who got a hundred and it was confidence building. It was a tough series against a quality team but we’ve managed to grow from that.”From behind a locked Cape Town hotel room, McCullum plotted a route to the unprecedented success New Zealand have enjoyed in the past 18 months. And Watling has been an integral part of the Test side’s rise to No. 3 in the world – above England, ahead of the Test series that starts on Thursday, and India, whom Watling helped repel with his third Test century in a record-breaking partnership in Wellington in February 2014. It secured New Zealand a draw and a 1-0 series win, the second of four series wins in their last five.”It was a pretty proud moment,” Watling said of his 352 stand with McCullum, who made 302. “We had the 1-0 lead at the time and the incentive was there to get the win, and we hadn’t had too many at the time. We were just trying to get through every over but it was a long time out there and we often ran out of things to say to each other.”Brendon is pretty relaxed, and just plays his natural game, we had a few demons to fight but it was great to watch from the other end. For me it was staying there as long as I could.”Eleven months on, back in Wellington and Watling’s stickability was again a prized asset as he and Kane Williamson shared 365 for the sixth wicket against Sri Lanka, which this time lead to a remarkable turnaround win and another series victory. “Both were important partnerships in terms of the series and to do that twice was the most pleasing thing,” Watling says. “We’ve managed to do that a few times over the last year or so.”Do those partnerships best demonstrate the mental improvement in the squad? “Yes I think so. We’ve got a lot of fight in us. New Zealanders have always fought but the experience and the consistency in the squad now is helping. The boys are moving forward from that tough period and have a lot more confidence now.”We always believed we could do it. I guess there’s a bit more relaxed, the boys know what they’re doing, they know their roles and it’s a team who are gelling quite nicely at the moment. This team has now managed some success in different conditions now, the boys are working hard and we should put up a decent fight against England.”To do so, New Zealand will have to adjust to the Dukes ball. Their IPL contingent have had a batch sent to India to bowl with in the nets and Watling has been canvassing opinion about keeping to it, including with his first coach in Hamilton, where he moved to aged 10 from Durban.”It’s a difficult job keeping in England,” Watling says, also with the Lord’s slope to consider on Thursday. “The change in ball makes a big difference, it wobbles more than it does back home. I’ve played here a few times and I’m starting to adjust. But it varies. It can wobble randomly or zoom straight through. I did quite a bit of work with keeping coach back home, everyone’s got their own theories about how to deal with the wobble here so hopefully I can work something out.”Watling has worked out quite a lot since being handed the gloves against Zimbabwe in January 2012. He made his first Test century in that match and has since settled the debate of New Zealand’s wicketkeeper after several candidates were offered a chance.”I was fairly nervous,” Watling recalls of his first game as wicketkeeper, having started his Test career as an opening batsman. “There was lot of talk about the keeping and I had been on and off keeping throughout my career, but that Zimbabwe game was the time when Brendon decided to give up the gloves full time and bat in the middle order, it’s been good to come out the other end of that period of uncertainty.”Watling’s is not the only settled position now and New Zealand are in good shape to try to add to their four Test wins in England. A series victory would continue to raise the profile of New Zealand’s cricketers, who stepped out of the shadow of the country’s rugby players during the World Cup. Watling was included in the initial 30-man squad but didn’t feature in the tournament. But it was still a great experience from the outside.”We were playing four-day cricket at the time so we would finish and get the TV on to watch the boys,” Watling says. “They just kept playing entertaining cricket and it was awesome to see them doing well. They made the county proud.”The buzz around New Zealand was brilliant. I’m sure we gained a few more fans and hopefully we can grow the game from here and especially keep the kids involved. Rugby is obviously our number one game but hopefully we’re starting to grow the fan base and maybe off the back of the World Cup we can steal a few of those rugby players who are decent cricketers too.”

Charlotte Edwards has seen a transformation in England women’s cricket and remains at the helm at the start of the multi-format Ashes series which begins with three Royal London ODIs – the first in Taunton on Tuesday

Tim Wigmore20-Jul-2015″My first Test Match was in a skirt and now I’m a professional cricketer. And that probably says everything.”Charlotte Edwards’ career embodies the transformation in women’s cricket. She made her international debut in 1996, at the time becoming the youngest ever woman to play for England. In 19 years since she has become one of the most significant women in the history of the game, being named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year, winning an MBE and, perhaps most significantly of all, being included in the first batch of England female cricketers to be awarded a central contract last year.”Now there is a career in cricket for any young girl,” she says. “It’s unrecognisable to the game I first started playing. “You just see so many girls now interested which you couldn’t have said before. I didn’t even know a women’s team existed when I was 11 – I thought I’d have to play for the England men’s team!”It’s been a wonderful journey and I’m so pleased I’ve been on that journey. I’m so lucky I can tell young girls about that journey and make them realise how lucky they are.”Edwards’ achievements are worth recounting. She has played more women’s internationals than anyone else in history. She has captained England in over 200 internationals, including Ashes wins at home and away and World Cup and World T20 triumphs. And, after over nine years as full-time skipper – a longer time span than Andrew Strauss’ entire international career – her zeal for the job has not diminished.”There is so much more I want to achieve in the game – more World Cup wins, more Ashes wins. I wish I had a pound for every time I’m asked about retirement. That is not on my mind at all. You can play for longer these days. Every older player tells me to keep on. As long as I can do the training that’s the hard part.”You’ve got to have the passion and desire to get up and do the training, and I’ve got that in abundance. I never thought I’d play for this long and now I’m just enjoying every year as if it’s my last.”Now Edwards again has the Australians in her sights. “It’s going to be a great series. You’ve got the two best teams in the world – we’re desperate to keep hold of the Ashes, and they’re desperate to win them, so it’s going to be set up for a great contest. We’re on home soil so I’m confident – we’ve done well against them here in previous Ashes series and I’m confident we can do it again.”2015 marks a landmark in women’s Ashes cricket: the first time that every England-Australia clash will be played at a regular county ground. “There’s going to be a lot of extra media scrutiny for us around our Ashes which is obviously fantastic.”After winning the last women’s Ashes Down Under in 2013/14, Edwards had to endure some unwelcome extra scrutiny when she was criticised for her intention “to get absolutely smashed tonight.” She laughs when she is reminded of these comments. “I probably shouldn’t have said what I said. It reflects where profile of women game has got to, people were listening to what was being said. I took it as a compliment really.”The latest manifestation of the improvement in the women’s game is the success enjoyed by one of Edwards’ teammates, Kate Cross, in the Central Lancashire League this season, including taking 8 for 47 in one game.”I’ve told her it’s great but she needs to save some wickets for the Ashes.” Edwards herself is testament to the virtues of the best female cricketing talent playing extensively with men.”Without a shadow of a doubt me playing boys’ and men’s cricket until the age of 17 has enabled me to go on and play for England. You have to play some women’s cricket, but I’ll tell any young girl to play boys’ and men’s cricket for as long as you want – it only helps you, more mentally than anything, and the step to women’s international cricket is quite an easy one once you’ve had loads of stick playing men’s cricket.”It is a different game – as a batter I wouldn’t want to go and play league cricket six weeks before the Ashes,” she says, envisaging a battery of deliveries coming through at shoulder height, which she would seldom face in the women’s game.While Edwards welcomes the profile of the women’s Ashes, and the format whereby every game across the three forms of cricket counts towards the series result, she would like the format used in all bilateral series.Yet few other series involve any Tests at all: over 19 years Edwards has managed just 22 Tests, barely more than one a year. She has only played ten Tests against teams other than Australia.”We have to play more of it. It just teaches you more about the game. There is too much emphasis on T20 for women. You can learn so much from the longer format.”Edwards, who will play for Perth Scorchers this winter, also thinks that domestic cricket in England, which will include a six-team Women’s Super League from next year, could learn from Down Under. “Hopefully we will get more England players in that competition. It’s the best in the world at the moment and that is where we should be aiming. I learned a lot out there in terms of my leadership as well as improving as a player and learning a lot about the Aussies.”Australia might not feel inclined to give Edwards any assistance, giving her outstanding record in Ashes cricket: she averages 52.36 in 12 Tests, and needs just 30 more runs to become England’s highest ever Test runscorer against Australia. The records change, but Edwards’ determination to break them remains undimmed.

Plus: signing off with a double-century, post-war run machines, and the most expensive four-man bowling attacks

Steven Lynch10-Nov-2015In the Sharjah Test England fielded five bowlers who bowl with the hand opposite the one they bat with. Is this unique for a Test? asked Gerry Cotter from England

The England side for the third Test against Pakistan in Sharjah did include four men – James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali – who bat left-handed but bowl with their right, plus Samit Patel, a right-hand batsman but a slow left-arm bowler. I couldn’t think of any bigger numbers – but Travis Basevi, ESPNcricinfo’s database ace, unearthed a couple. As England’s first Test against India at Trent Bridge in 2014 meandered to a draw, Alastair Cook and Gary Ballance both had a trundle – and they each bowl right-handed but bat left. They joined Ali, Anderson, Broad and Stokes to make up the half-dozen. There was an earlier instance too. In the first Test against New Zealand in Moratuwa in 1992-93, Sri Lanka had six players who bowled with one hand but batted with the other: Don Anurasiri, Asanka Gurusinha, Dulip Liyanage, Arjuna Ranatunga, Hashan Tillakaratne and Jayananda Warnaweera. There are ten further cases of five (the first two by England in Pakistan in 1961-62), including two other recent instances by England: at Sydney in 2014-15 (Anderson, Broad, Stokes, Scott Borthwick and Boyd Rankin) and the Lord’s Ashes Test of 2015 (Ali, Anderson, Broad, Stokes and a solitary over from Adam Lyth). The figures only take into account matches in which the players concerned actually bowled.In the second ODI in Sri Lanka there were four run-outs in six balls at the end of West Indies’ innings. Was this a record? asked Raj Padmanathan from the United States

West Indies’ collapse at the end of their innings against Sri Lanka in Colombo last week was pretty sensational – four wickets fell to run-outs in the space of six deliveries. But there has been at least one spell of madcap running that beat this: during the 2011 World Cup one team lost four wickets to run-outs from three legal balls! This collapse came at the end of Netherlands’ innings against Ireland in their group game in Kolkata. With three balls left Netherlands were 304 for 6, but Atse Buurman was run out off the next delivery, a wide from Kevin O’Brien (305 for 7). The next ball was legal, but Pieter Seelaar was run out by a direct hit from John Mooney (305 for 8). Next ball, Adeel Raja was run out without facing (305 for 9), then Mudassar Bukhari slogged the last delivery away but was run out going for a second run (306 all out). The recent West Indian instance was actually the 58th instance of four run-outs in an innings in an ODI. There have also been ten cases of five, the first one being the most famous – by West Indies, with Viv Richards to the fore, against Australia during the first World Cup final at Lord’s in 1975. The next instance of five was not until 1987-88. For the full list, click here.Ravi Rampaul removed Kusal Perera for 99 in the second ODI in Sri Lanka. I think he had already dismissed someone else for 99 – does he hold the record? asked Naveen Raj from India

Sri Lanka’s Kusal Perera, caught by Carlos Brathwaite of West Indies during the recent match in Colombo, was actually the third batsman Ravi Rampaul had dismissed for 99 in ODIs. He also had Virat Kohli caught for 99 in Visakhapatnam in November 2013, then in March 2014 caught and bowled Jos Buttler for 99 at North Sound in Antigua. The only other bowler to inflict two 99s in ODIs is a rather unlikely name: Virender Sehwag trapped Matthew Hayden lbw in Bangalore in March 2001, and in August the same year Sanath Jayasuriya had made 99 when he was caught off Sehwag in the Coca-Cola Cup final in Colombo. Sehwag himself reached 99 against Sri Lanka in Dambulla in August 2010 – but he wasn’t out, and instead was stranded on 99 when the winning run came via a Suraj Randiv no-ball.Andy Sandham (right) scored 325 in the 1930 Timeless Test but was never picked for England again•Hulton ArchiveIs it true that Tom Graveney scored more first-class runs than anyone else after the Second World War? asked Kevin Wilson from England

Tom Graveney, who sadly died last week at the age of 88, scored 47,793 runs at an average of 44.91 in first-class cricket, after making his debut in 1948. That was the post-war record until 1986, but Geoff Boycott passed it that season – his last in first-class cricket – finishing with 48,426 runs at 56.83. Boycott lies eighth and Graveney ninth on the overall list of first-class runscorers; in tenth place is Graham Gooch, with 44,846 at 49.01. For the full list, click here.I noticed that when India scored 516 in Mohali in March 2005, Pakistan used only four bowlers. Is this a record? asked Vijay Bhatia from India

That Indian innings in Mohali in 2004-05, in which Danish Kaneria took 6 for 150 from 53.4 overs, was actually the second highest in Test history to be made against a four-man attack. In 1980-81, in Adelaide, Australia scored 528 against India – and Sunil Gavaskar used only four bowlers, with spinners Dilip Doshi and Shivlal Yadav sharing seven wickets in more than 90 overs. Sri Lanka also used only four bowlers as Pakistan made 500 for 7 declared in Lahore in 1981-82. For the full list, click here.Shoaib Malik made a double-century in what was eventually his final Test series. Did anyone reach 200 in their very last Test and then retire? asked Mike Rossman from England

Five players have scored double-centuries in what turned out to be their final Test match, although only one of them was known to be bowing out at the time. Seymour Nurse, the West Indian, hammered 258 in the third Test, in Christchurch, in 1968-69, having announced his retirement before the team arrived in New Zealand – and not even Garry Sobers could change his mind about carrying on. In 1934, Bill Ponsford made 266 in the final Ashes Test at The Oval – he shared a huge partnership of 451 with Don Bradman, who scored 244 – and, soon after his 34th birthday, announced his retirement, not long after the team arrived back in Australia. Andy Sandham made 325 – Test cricket’s first triple-century – against West Indies in Kingston in 1929-30, but that wasn’t a full-strength England side, and even a triple couldn’t win him a place in the 1930 Ashes series. Nearly 40, Sandham was never chosen again. In July 2002, Aravinda de Silva made 206 in Sri Lanka’s first Test against Bangladesh in Colombo, was rested from the second… and never played again. Finally Jason Gillespie famously went in as nightwatchman for Australia against Bangladesh in Chittagong in April 2006 – and settled in for nine and a half hours, extending his maiden century to 201 not out. But his bowling was on the wane, and Gillespie never played for Australia again.Send in your questions using our feedback form.

With India playing most of their Test cricket at home over the next 18 months, they will have to choose between their two quickest bowlers most of the time. A tricky choice, given Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav’s hit or miss tendencies

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Nagpur22-Nov-2015On November 14, India’s two fastest bowlers were in action, concurrently, in two different games. In Bangalore, Varun Aaron was bowling second-change for India against South Africa, behind Stuart Binny’s medium-pace and R Ashwin’s offspin. In Nagpur, Umesh Yadav was leading Vidarbha’s attack against Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy.Both had played the first Test in Mohali. Between them, on a pitch far more suited to spin than their pace, they had bowled 20 overs for the cost of 40 runs, and picked up one wicket. Aaron had taken that wicket, discomfiting Dean Elgar with a short ball in South Africa’s second innings and getting him caught off the leading edge.Perhaps it was that wicket that swayed India into playing Aaron and not Umesh when the second Test rolled around and Ishant Sharma, the leader of their pace attack, returned from suspension. It must have been a hard decision, for Umesh had looked impressive during India’s last Test series in Sri Lanka, troubling Angelo Mathews, the opposition’s best batsman, with pace and outswing.In any case, India opted for Aaron at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and released Umesh to play for his Ranji side.Aaron came on in the 11th over of South Africa’s innings, with the scorecard reading 19 for 2. Against the left-handed Elgar, Aaron had two slips, a gully, and a forward short leg, who was the only fielder on the leg side apart from mid-on. The third ball of his over was on Elgar’s pads. He clipped it away easily for four. Short leg retreated to square leg. Later in his spell, he would trouble Elgar with a couple of nasty short ones, but with Elgar fending rather than hooking, the absence of the short leg fielder seemed glaring.Second ball of Aaron’s second over, to Hashim Amla, was short and wide and put away to the point boundary. Point went back. With South Africa 33 for 2 and India right on top, their fastest bowler was bowling with a fielder sweeping on the off-side boundary. A fielder placed for the bad ball, but it didn’t feel like a defensive move. It was almost forced on Virat Kohli by Aaron’s waywardness. The last ball of the over was short and wide again, and Amla took two runs to the man at deep point.But just when he was displaying the worst side of his bowling, Aaron let loose an unplayable delivery. Fast, on a fullish length, angling into off stump and straightening. The pace rooted Amla’s feet to his crease, and the ball beat his outside edge and hit the top of off stump. Bang. This was why India had picked Aaron.A few hours later and just over a thousand kilometers north of Bangalore, Umesh came on to bowl with the second new ball. He had dismissed one of Rajasthan’s openers with the first new ball, and now he was bowling with the scoreboard reading 216 for 7.In three balls, he ended Rajasthan’s innings. First, the left-handed Kukna Ajay Singh, caught behind, with the keeper diving in front of first slip. “Next two [Aniket Choudhary and Nathu Singh] were cleaned up, with pace,” says Paras Mhambrey, Vidarbha’s coach. “Length balls – sharpish, quick ones.”Instead of showing his disappointment at being left out of the Test attack, Mhambrey says Umesh was keen on getting game time.”He was glad to play a game, rather than just sitting out, and he was happy the BCCI released him, so he could at least get a game. He wouldn’t be just sitting out there doing nothing, maybe a little bit of training but no bowling.”When he knew that he was released, he called me, he said I’m available for the next game, I’m coming in the evening, I’m playing the game tomorrow. There must have been some amount of disappointment, but if you look at it, he took it as an opportunity to just stake a claim again. Kind of a reminder. It’s good to know that someone who is in the reserves, unfortunately not able to get a game, he’s also in good form. That’s a good thing for the selectors as well, and the captain also to be aware of.”There is no doubt the team management took note of Umesh’s hat-trick. Still, in the short term, Aaron seems to have done enough in Mohali and in nine overs in Bangalore to retain his place for the Nagpur Test. It will mean Umesh sits out at his home ground.With India playing most of their Test cricket at home – most likely on turning tracks – over the next year and a half, it seems likely they will have room for only one of Umesh or Aaron at a time. Whoever plays will often get only a handful of overs to bowl, with the spinners doing the bulk of the work.It is a two-edged sword, though. In India, Umesh and Aaron can bowl in shorter, sharper bursts, mostly with the new ball or when the old one is reversing. Right now, both are at a stage of their development when they perform better when used this way, when their attacking thrust is called upon more than their ability to control a game.It isn’t a surprise, therefore, that both have better records at home than away. At home, Umesh averages 28.22, with an economy rate of 3.66. Overseas, he averages 45.40 and concedes 4.54 runs an over. Aaron averages 40.20 at home, with an economy rate of 3.86, and those figures shoot up to 57.38 and 5.10 abroad.And while they are yoked together in being labelled “right-arm fast”, Umesh and Aaron are very different bowlers. Umesh thrives when he can ally pace to movement in the air – whether it is conventional swing, as on the tour of Sri Lanka, or reverse, as when he trapped Ian Bell and Samit Patel off successive deliveries in Ahmedabad in 2012.Aaron is a little quicker, his skills a little less subtle but no less effective on his good days. His best moments so far include the bouncer followed by the full, fast inswinger to clean up Moeen Ali at Old Trafford last year, and the pinpoint short ball that caused Brad Haddin to fend to short leg at the Gabba a few months later.At their worst, both can leak runs by the bushel: among bowlers who have sent down a minimum of 1000 deliveries in Test cricket, Aaron and Umesh are among the worst four in terms of economy rate. At their best, they offer India’s pace attack a genuine cutting edge.

With the World T20 looming, Australia are in the dangerous – and familiar – situation of not knowing their best Twenty20 combination

Daniel Brettig30-Jan-2016For the past eight weeks, Shane Watson was a part of the Sydney Thunder side that overcame four years of conspicuous underachievement to wrest the Big Bash League title from more fancied contenders in the Strikers, the Scorchers and the Stars.However low the Thunder sunk over the previous four seasons, there was always the hope that with continuity and sound decision-making, they could yet emerge as a force in Australian cricket. Like any club, they had the opportunities afforded by a good idea of their schedule and matches, the chance to recruit players and staff on long-term deals, and to address problems over time. Success, when it came, was not the result of an overnight shuffle.Watson, Australia’s stand-in Twenty20 captain, now finds himself on the far side of the team spectrum, for Australia’s T20 unit is about as ad hoc as they come. Some of this is presently the result of circumstances, such as a medical scare for the coach Darren Lehmann and a hamstring injury for the captain Aaron Finch. But the dismal loss of the current series to India a matter of weeks before the World T20 on the subcontinent is emblematic of a continuity problem Watson has experienced for a decade.”No doubt that’s the biggest challenge for the Australian Twenty20 team – and always has been, when I’ve been a part of it – is until the Twenty20 World Cup the priority for the best players playing all the time is not always there, because there’s so much cricket that is on,” Watson said. “You’ve just got to manage your best players as well as you can, which always means there’s no continuity with Twenty20 teams up until a game or two before the Twenty20 World Cup.”That’s happened in every Twenty20 World Cup I’ve been a part of, which does make it challenging, there’s no doubt.”When you play in a BBL team or IPL team you just about know your best team … everyone knows their specific roles, and are consistently doing them throughout a whole season. But when there’s only a few Twenty20s here and there, throughout a long summer, it provides a huge challenge to be able to get your best players playing in their best positions.”Initially, this issue was a product of no-one quite recognising what T20 was to become, as early internationals were marked by frivolity and in some cases indifference on the part of players and coaches alike. The decision to wire some players to the Channel Nine commentary box while fielding or batting was made at that time, and has remained despite international T20 now having a global tournament of some prestige – a tournament Australia have never won.They came closest to doing so while making the final in 2010, largely through the individual brilliance of Michael Hussey in a semi-final steal against Pakistan rather than any great sense of tactical cohesion. Since that time, the T20 side has bounced between distraction status and having a more substantial place in plans, invariably a few months out from the ICC event. In 2012 Watson helped drive a decent bid for the title until the semi-finals, but in 2014 the team and staff appeared burnt out from that summer’s Test match exertions and were eliminated with barely a whimper.There had actually been some sense of planning to the schedules that preceded those global events. The Australian side played nine evenly spaced matches in the 12 months prior to the 2012 tournment, and 10 in the same period leading into 2014. This time 2015 was almost entirely devoid of the format, to the extent that a single match in the 12-month voting period for the Allan Border Medal night meant the T20 trophy was not awarded.Australia did schedule six matches against India and South Africa for early 2016, packed into a couple of months before the World T20, ostensibly allowing for greater ability to get a team together. However the long wait followed by a rush of activity in the format has resulted in a startling lack of clarity among the selectors about their options.The choosing of a 17-man squad for three T20s against India was a warning sign, and now the inclusions of Usman Khawaja and Cameron Bancroft for the SCG on Sunday will stretch the number of players used to an eye-popping 19. That sort of a number raises unfavourable comparisons with the start of the disastrous 2010-11 Ashes series, never mind the questionable wisdom of choosing a part-time wicketkeeper to replace the less than sparkling glovework of Matthew Wade.Stability and knowledge of each player’s capability is nowhere to be seen. While commentating for ABC Grandstand, a noted T20 authority in David Hussey spelt it out: “I don’t think the selectors know which is the right T20 national team, and they don’t play enough to do so.” Speaking in Sydney upon the team’s arrival for the third match against India, the interim coach Michael Di Venuto did not appear confident things would settle down in a hurry either.”I’m not, hopefully the selectors are,” he said, when asked if he was sure what Australia’s best T20 side was. “I’m sure we’ll come up with a good combination, a good cricket team to take on that World Cup. We’ve had quite a few debutants so far throughout the series, we’ve got some players heading to New Zealand, preparing for that series over there, so the make-up of our side at the moment compared to the World Cup might be completely different. We’ll just have to see what the selectors come up with.”A key to Australia’s T20 struggles can be found within those words. Short-form assignments are always seen within the context of bigger tasks in the Test match and ODI arenas. Were Australia’s players and coaches to be asked whether they would prefer the World T20 title or the No. 1 Test match ranking, there would be few dissenters to the view that the latter is more significant, in terms of both reputations and finances.This takes the matter back to the Sydney Thunder, and the purpose of the BBL as devised by Cricket Australia. T20 is the vehicle through which to take the game to new audiences, not the format by which the national team’s story and aptitude is meant to be defined. There are plenty within CA who would be happy enough to see T20 be a club-only concern, with the muddled history of the national team in the third format consigned to the archives.That may all be well and good in terms of wider strategy and the growth of the game down under, a task at which few could fault CA in recent times. But the fact remains that Watson and the rest of Australia’s T20 players want to be part of a representative side that is cohesive, settled and successful like the Thunder have become, and they are running out of patience waiting for that day to arrive.