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.

What happens on the fields and in the pavilions will be the most interesting part, with unprecedented numbers of international players to take part, and with the depth of the women’s game newly tested with younger and less experienced players

Geoff Lemon04-Dec-20151:11

There are transferable skills from tennis to cricket – Barty

Even three or four years ago, you would not have imagined a whiz-bang women’s domestic Twenty20 competition would come around so soon. But with increased coverage and eye-catching performances, the sense of momentum in women’s cricket has only grown. Through the close succession of a 50-over World Cup, a World T20 and three Ashes series, we were suddenly at a point where the next step seemed inevitable.To their credit, the England Cricket Board and Cricket Australia each recognised that and acted on it. The Women’s Cricket Super League will launch in England in mid-2016, while the Women’s Big Bash League is about to precede it in Australia.While it is tiresome for cricketing women to always draw comparison with men, the male Big Bash League has laid out a brightly coloured template. Even the most ardent administrators would have been surprised by the BBL’s success with crowds and TV ratings, so the second time around there was no doubt that the women’s competition should follow the same structure.Don’t be fooled by the badging as a “rebel” tournament – the WBBL is official, it’s just confusingly sponsored by a sports retailer that doesn’t like capital letters. Eight city-based teams, twinning the existing men’s teams of Brisbane Heat, Sydney Sixers, Sydney Thunder, Melbourne Renegades, Melbourne Stars, Hobart Hurricanes, Adelaide Strikers and Perth Scorchers. A league competition leading into a knockout finals series, with 59 games over the best part of two months.Only eight of those games will be telecast, with taking tentative steps to augment its broadcast of the men’s competition. It’s a start – a way for the concept to begin proving itself. Cricket Australia for its part is concentrating on the match-day experience, and will hope to use attendance to drive interest and enthusiasm for the women’s game among girls in the crowd, and among cricket lovers in general.That explains idiosyncrasies in the fixture: things like Melbourne Stars and Brisbane Heat playing each other twice on the same day to start the season. Turns out that’s a ploy to make at least one game available to people who might not be able to make the other, and to make the entire day into a carnival affair.Most games are grouped around weekends and have free entry, designed to draw as many spectators as possible. The eight televised games will be double-headers with the corresponding men’s teams, and entry to both comes with the same ticket. Then there’s the geographical reach: aside from the usual international venues there will be visits to the Junction Oval in St Kilda (Melbourne), Kingston Twin Ovals in outer Hobart, Blacktown Oval in Sydney’s west, Aquinas College in Perth, Drummoyne Oval by Sydney’s harbour, and Allan Border Field in Albion.Most Women’s BBL games are grouped around weekends and have free entry, designed to draw as many spectators as possible•Getty ImagesWhat happens on the fields and in the pavilions will be the most interesting part, with unprecedented numbers of international players arriving to take part, and with the depth of the women’s game newly tested with younger and less experienced players getting their chance to supplement the squads.New South Wales is the regional power in the 50-over competition: before losing this year’s final to South Australia the state had won ten in a row. But that group is now split across two Sydney teams, just as Victoria’s players have been in Melbourne. Things are going to even out very quickly.On paper, Brisbane Heat look the most impressive outfit. Jess Jonassen scored that memorable 99 in Australia’s Test match win in Canterbury, but started her career as a spinner and remains a threat. The tall Holly Ferling debuted for Australia aged 17 and remains one of the country’s best young pace prospects.Delissa Kimmince can open with bat and ball, and only missed the Ashes tour through injury, while her replacement was the powerful Grace Harris, who has already hit some of the cleanest sixes in the women’s game. England seamer Kate Cross bowled beautifully during the northern summer, including bags of wickets in the men’s Lancashire League. Round that lot out with former Australian captain and wicketkeeper Jodie Fields, as well as a project player in former tennis international Ashleigh Barty, and there’s a lot to watch.Not that Perth Scorchers don’t have a fearsome list. Nicole Bolton and Elyse Villani are the Australian opening batting partnership in both forms, and while Villani has struggled internationally she has some monster scores at domestic level. England captain Charlotte Edwards has brought not only her leadership but her favourite fast bowler, Katherine Brunt. And while Brunt can hit a long ball down the order, she can’t match West Indies power-hitter Deandra Dottin, who has played some of the memorable innings of recent times.Melbourne Stars have the dual star power of both Lanning sisters, Meg and Anna, as well as Australian legspinner Kristen Beams and England’s brightest batting talent Natalie Sciver. The sport’s most prominent name, Ellyse Perry, has gone to the Sydney Sixers, and while she may not have the required quality around her on that list, she can win games on her own in either discipline.Women’s cricket is often an arm-wrestle, with bowlers remaining in the game throughout and any target a possibility to defend. It’s more about the fine touch and less about slogging out of trouble. So while attention gravitates to the batting, the most skilled units with the ball will likely do best. A pairing like international bowlers Sarah Coyte and Megan Schutt at the Adelaide Strikers might prove decisive.Just as exciting as watching the best players will be seeing which of the newer and younger set can step up. In the next few weeks, we’ll get to know a whole lot more about some of them. That’s what the expanding world of women’s cricket does: makes more space in the sky for stars.

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.

An evolving England side are not only searching for consistency with bat and ball but also in the field where missed chances proved costly in Cape Town

George Dobell in Johannesburg11-Jan-2016Like the man who tells himself the cigarette he sneaks after a cup of coffee doesn’t really make them a smoker, so it can be hard to distinguish – or at least admit to – the difference between ‘a habit’ and ‘a blip.’It was natural for Jonny Bairstow to dismiss the spate of dropped catches in Cape Town as “a blip.” You could hardly expect him to say anything else. Besides, it is true that the likes of Joe Root and James Anderson, who put down chances during the Test, have a fine record in the field. These things happen.But as England started their training ahead of the Johannesburg Test with an intense fielding session, it was a reminder that they remain a work in progress in every way. England missed somewhere between five and 10 chances, depending on how charitable you feel, in the second Test and have reprieved both AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla in each of the first two matches. Had they caught better, it is entirely possible they would be 2-0 up in this series.Yet, just as several young batsmen are finding their feet at this level, just as Moeen Ali and Steven Finn are developing bowlers, so England are searching for the right combination in the field that gives them the best chance to win games. Ian Bell – increasingly fallible in his final months in the side – has only recently left the slip cordon and James Taylor has only just moved to short-leg.It appears Ben Stokes may replace James Anderson, whose concentration is drained by the demands of bowling, as slip fielder to the spinners, while Nick Compton has yet to totally convince at point – he dropped the most straightforward of the chances in Cape Town – and Alex Hales is still bedding in at third slip. It will take time for all of them to acclimatise.And then there is Bairstow. His batting in this series has been as reliable and polished as anyone. In both Tests, he has made hugely valuable contributions and, if England had to name a Man of the Series right now, he would be in a reasonable choice.But batting is only half his job. And while his own keeping was better in Cape Town than it had been in Durban – he let through just four byes in 211 overs – he did maintain an uncomfortable habit of missing a chance a game. This one, a catch to his right that was not straightforward, followed a very tough missed stumping and another catch to his right at Durban. He also missed a routine stumping in the warm-up game in Pietermartizburg and a stumping and a catch in his previous Test in Sharjah.All of which sounds more like a habit than a blip.But we knew Bairstow’s keeping was “a work in progress,” as Trevor Bayliss described it, when he was selected. Just as we knew Moeen was not the finished article as a spinner and Stokes is learning his trade as an allrounder. All will, no doubt, benefit from patience and Bairstow cannot be faulted for his hard work or dedication. His selection remains a risk, though.The same could have been said for Jos Buttler. His keeping had improved through his period in the side and, given time, perhaps his batting would have done, too. But the team management felt, with some justification, that prolonging Buttler to the torture that his struggles had started to become would do him more harm than good. He was dropped for his own benefit in much the same way that Finn was sent home early from the tour to Australia in early 2014.Which left Bairstow the next in line. He knows that much hard work remains, but makes the point that he is a relative novice in the role and will improve over time.”You’re only going to learn by doing and that’s the way I’ve always done things,” Bairstow said. “When I first kept for Yorkshire, it was my second first-class game and I think I’d kept in two games for the second team. It was three years before I kept a full season.”So my keeping is a work in progress. But I’m pleased with the way I’m catching the ball and pleased with the way I’m moving. I don’t think you can ever say you’ve nailed it, but I’m pleased with the contribution I’ve made. It’s still a massive learning curve.”Jonny Bairstow: ‘I don’t think you can ever say you’ve nailed it, but I’m pleased with the contribution I’ve made. It’s still a massive learning curve’•Getty ImagesThe game has changed a great deal since England found room for a specialist keeper such as Bob Taylor and it seems most unlikely that it will change back. Indeed, it is debatable whether Taylor, for all his talent, would have been able to sustain a career in the modern game. Perhaps even the likes of Jack Russell and Keith Piper, who played such huge roles in the success of their county sides in limited-overs cricket, might struggle today.Michael Bates, perhaps the closest comparison with Taylor in the modern game, is an outstanding keeper but, due to a batting average under 20, is struggling to sustain his career despite the fact that his keeping played a huge role in Hampshire winning the Lord’s final in 2012.In time, Ben Cox – a vastly improved keeper who benefitted from working with Saeed Ajmal during the 2014 season, in particular – might be an option for England? Or Ben Foakes, if he can ever win the gloves at Surrey, or the steadily improving Sam Billings? In the longest term, Joe Clarke, like Cox a Worcestershire player, may be the one to watch, though it is hard to see how he and Cox can fulfil their potential at the same club.In the meantime, Bairstow has a chance to make the position his own.The one England player to miss training on Monday was Compton. He is the latest member of the team to succumb to a nasty stomach bug and, while the England camp insist he should be fine for the game, he must be a slight doubt given how long it has taken other people to recover. Gary Ballance would come into the side if Compton does not recover. Training is optional for England on Tuesday.The Test pitch, already bearing cracks, looks unusually dry. But rain is expected in the next few days and, if Cape Town taught us anything, it is that cracks do not always crumble and offer assistance to bowlers. Bethuel Buthenizi, the assistant groundsman here for more than two decades, is proud of his first Test surface as senior groundsman and expects it to offer pace, bounce and some assistance to bowlers of all types. “350 would be a good score,” he said.England are confident that playing at altitude will have little negative impact upon them. They spent a week or so at the start of the tour in Potchefstroom – which is similarly high above sea level – and their seamers will enjoy any extra bounce and carry as much as South Africa’s. They will need to ensure the errors of Cape Town really were a blip, though, if they are to defeat the No. 1 rated Test team.

Stats round-up from the quarterfinals stage of the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy

Bharath Seervi07-Feb-20160 Instances of Assam reaching the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy, before this season (excluding the Plate League). In 2006-07, they reached the semi-finals of the Plate League. (The Ranji Trophy was split into two groups then, with the top teams playing in the Super League, and the lesser teams playing in the Plate League.) This season, they defeated Punjab by 51 runs in Valsad to reach the last-four stage.788 Target set by Madhya Pradesh against Bengal, the fifth-highest in Ranji Trophy history. The highest of all is 959 set by Bombay against Maharashtra in Pune in the semi-final of 1948-49 Ranji Trophy, which is also the highest across all first-class matches. With the 355-run win, Madhya Pradesh have reached the Ranji Trophy semi-finals for the first time since 2005-06. They had reached the Plate League semi-finals thrice in last ten years. The win is also their biggest in first-class matches beating the 287-run win against Maharashtra in Indore in 1994-95 and Bengal’s second-biggest defeat behind their 420-run loss to Bombay in 1958-59 final.432 Runs scored by Bengal in the fourth innings, in reply to Madhya Pradesh’s target of 788. It is the third-highest fourth-innings total in Ranji Trophy. The two higher than this are: 604 by Maharashtra against Bombay in 1948-49 (target of 959) and 492 by Holkar against Bombay in 1944-45 final (target of 867).3 Number of wins by an innings for Saurashtra this season, the most for them in a single Ranji season. They won by an innings and 63 runs against Jammu and Kashmir in their last match in the group stage and then by innings and 85 runs in the quarter-final against Vidarbha. They had won by an innings and 118 runs in the first match of this season against Tripura. They had two such wins in the 2008-09 season and only seven innings victories till the last season. There hasn’t been an instance in the last ten years where a team won by an innings in the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy.2 Batsmen who have completed 1000 runs in a Ranji Trophy season at a younger age than Shreyas Iyer. The Mumbai batsman, aged 21 years, six months and 30 days, got there on the third day of the quarter-final against Jharkhand. The youngest to achieve the feat is Rusi Modi at 20 years, three months and 24 days in 1944-45, while Ajinkya Rahane is next at 20 years, six months and 29 days in 2008-09 (age as on the day of 1000th run). Modi was also the first batsman to aggregate 1000 or more runs in a Ranji Trophy season. All the three youngest to do so have all been for Mumbai. KL Rahul comes next at 21 years, 9 months and 13 days for Karnataka in 2013-14. In the same innings, Iyer also completed 2000 runs in his first-class career. Click here for highest run-getters in this season of Ranji Trophy.2006-07 Last time a bowler took 50 or more wickets in a Ranji season, before Shahbaz Nadeem did it for Jharkhand this time. Ranadeb Bose had taken 57 wickets for Bengal in 2006-07. There were four bowlers who took 50 or more wickets in the 1999-00 season (Kanwaljit Singh 62, Venkatapathy Raju 52, Utpal Chatterjee 52 and Aashish Kapoor 50) and only two since then. Nadeem is also the first from Jharkhand to take 50 or more wickets in a season. Previous highest for Jharkhand was also by him: 42 wickets in 2012-13 season.3 Number of Man-of-the-Match awards for Akhil Herwadkar in this Ranji Trophy season for Mumbai, the joint-most with four other players – Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohan Prem and Rajat Paliwal. His 107 and 3 for 26 against Jharkhand in the quarterfinal in Mysore got him his third Man-of-the-Match award.704 The previous-highest aggregate by an Assam batsman in a Ranji Trophy season, by Dheeraj Jadhav in 2011-12 at an average of 176 in nine innings. Arun Karthik has gone past him this season with 728 runs at 49.15, with two games left, potentially The next two highest aggregates are also by Jadhav: 626 runs at 48.15 in 2013-14 and 623 at 56.63 in 2012-13. Similarly, the 47 wickets by Krishna Das are also the most, by far, for an Assam bowler in a season. Sarupam Purkayastha had taken 36 wickets in the last season. 32 wickets by Arup Das this season are the third-most for an Assam bowler in a season.8/83 Figures of Arup Das against Punjab, the best in a Ranji quarter-finals since Harshal Patel’s 8 for 40 for Haryana against Karnataka in 2011-12. These are fifth-best figures for Assam and fourth-best by any bowler against Punjab in first-class matches.401 Wickets for Pragyan Ojha in first-class career. He picked up his 400th wicket in the quarter-final match playing for Bengal against Madhya Pradesh.0 Number of half-centuries for Ashok Dinda in his first-class career, before this quarter-final match, in 108 innings. He scored 52 off 42 balls batting at No. 9 in the fourth innings for Bengal against Madhya Pradesh. It is his maiden half-century across all formats – First-class, List-A and T20 cricket. His previous best was 45 against Haryana in the last Ranji Trophy. Last player to score 50 or more at No. 9 in the fourth-innings in Ranji Trophy was Jammu and Kashmir’s Samiullah Baig in 2013-14.

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.

22-Apr-2016AB de Villiers came out all guns blazing and smashed his third half-century of the tournament•BCCIVirat Kohli wasn’t at his most fluent, although Rising Pune Supergiants helped his cause as Ankit Sharma dropped him on 50•BCCIThe de Villiers-Kohli partnership recorded their third 100-plus stand. Such was their domination that at one point it prompted MS Dhoni to use his shoe to prevent a Kohli late cut from crossing him•BCCIDespite the relative scratchiness, Kohli hit seven fours and two sixes before holing out to deep midwicket for 80 off 63 balls•BCCIDe Villiers fell for 83 with two balls remaining in the innings, caught by an off-balance Ankit Sharma. RCB ended on 185 for 3•BCCIThisara Perera was in the thick of the action, taking all three wickets to fall to finish with 3 for 34•BCCIAn untimely injury to Kevin Pietersen compounded Supergiants’ woes after the early loss of Faf du Plessis•BCCIAjinkya Rahane held firm at his end to keep the fight alive•BCCIMS Dhoni played a quiet supporting act, and the duo added 91 for the third wicket•BCCIRahane swung wildly at a slider only to be stumped and give chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi his first IPL wicket. With MS Dhoni falling soon after, RCB inched closer•BCCIThisara Perera and Rajat Bhatia gave them a scare, though, by blasting 25 runs off a Harshal Patel over – the 18th of the chase•BCCIBut Shane Watson held his nerve in the 19th before Kane Richardson struck twice in the final over to restrict Supergiants to 172 for 8•AFP

Plays of the day from the IPL game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils

Deivarayan Muthu10-Apr-2016In the thick of action
Manish Pandey made a fine stop at backward point, diving full length to his right, to create a run-out opportunity in the first over. The batsman Quinton de Kock was struggling to get to the bowler’s end, but he was saved as Pandey’s throw missed the target. And with no one backing up, it went all the way to the boundary. Redemption arrived in the sixth over as Pandey took a head-high catch to dismiss his good friend and Karnataka team-mate Karun Nair. The ball wouldn’t stop following Pandey though. In the seventh over, after a mix-up between Pawan Negi and Sanju Samson, Pandey took aim at the non-strikers’ end again but struck the frantically-running Samson.The first false dawn
Mayank Agarwal, who beat Shreyas Iyer to open the batting alongside de Kock, met the first ball of the match with a straight bat and a high elbow to find a four over extra cover. You bruise a big fast bowler like Andre Russell at your peril though, and the West Indian responded by knocking over three wickets in two overs, including Agarwal, who was caught at third man while attempting another loft.The second false dawn
Daredevils were 55 for 5 when Carlos Brathwaite walked in. The man who went six, six, six and six last week at Eden Gardens to become a World T20 champion opened his account in the IPL with a lusty blow over the wide long-on boundary. Two balls later, though, he failed to pick a googly from Piyush Chawla and was pinned lbw.Hogg’s wiles
Brad Hogg admitted that he was surprised by the bounce and carry offered by the Eden Gardens pitch. “I think I will bowl the same way I do at the WACA,” he told the commentators. That meant trouble for the Daredevils batsmen. Negi and Samson were teased with flight and confounded by wrong ‘uns, which led Hogg’s former Australia team-mate Matthew Hayden to say, “I always found him difficult to slog. He is deceptive through the air.” Negi learned that very lesson the hard way when he charged down the track, swung across the line and was stumped.The ram-rod straight drivesRobin Uthappa in full flow is a delight. He showed glimpses of that during his 33-ball 35. In the fifth over of the chase, Uthappa pressed forward and punchily drove Zaheer Khan, splitting mid-off and mid-on to perfection. Four balls later, he produced an even better version of the shot, this time off Chris Morris, and held his pose. By then Knight Riders had knocked off about half their target.The reverse-hit out of nowhere
When Colin Munro was picked ahead of Shakib Al Hasan, the Eden Gardens crowd would have expected the first instance of funkiness from the New Zealand basher. Instead, it came from Daredevils’ No.8 Chris Morris. He dared to go against the spin and swatted Hogg over point (or square leg if you like) for a boundary.

Stats highlights from the tri-series ODI between West Indies and Australia in St Kitts, where the hosts sealed a comfortable four-wicket win

Bharath Seervi14-Jun-20167 Consecutive ODI defeats for West Indies against Australia, before this four-wicket win. Their last win came in March 2012 in Gros Islet. Australia also had a sequence of 14 undefeated ODIs against West Indies between November 2006 and March 2012. The last time West Indies chased a target of 250 or more against Australia was in September 2006 in Kuala Lumpur.92 Marlon Samuels’ score in this match is his highest against Australia in ODIs. This was his first fifty against them after 19 innings. He had previously made two half-centuries against Australia, both of which came in 2001. His average against the visitors has increased from 17.04 to 20.04 with this innings, but it is still the worst among 16 West Indies batsmen who have scored 500 or more ODI runs against Australia. He also picked up his first Man-of-the-Match award in 27 ODIs against them.2011 Last time each of West Indies’ top five batsmen scored 25 or more runs in an ODI. It had happened against Netherlands in Delhi in the 2011 World Cup.16 Consecutive ODIs in which West Indies’ openers did not add a fifty-run stand, before Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher put on 74 on Monday. In those 16 innings, the openers added 25 or more runs only four times.6 Sixes conceded by Adam Zampa on Monday, the most by an Australia bowler in an ODI since 2002. Xavier Doherty (twice), Clint McKay and Glenn Maxwell have conceded five sixes in a match. Zampa had conceded just five sixes in his first five ODIs and, for the first time in six ODIs, had an economy rate of more than six. He has managed to take at least one wicket in each of his six ODIs and with nine wickets in this series, he is the leading wicket-taker.98 Usman Khawaja’s score in this match is his highest in ODIs. He scored just 29 runs in two innings in Guyana but in both the innings in St Kitts so far, he scored half-centuries – 59 and 98. With 186 runs, he is the leading run-getter in the series.74 Runs scored by West Indies in the first ten overs of the innings is the highest by any team in this series, and was also the first time a team scored more than 60 runs in the first ten overs. Australia had scored just 40 in the same period.3 Number of times two batsmen were run out in the 90s in an ODI. Both Khawaja (98) and Samuels (92) were run out in this match. The last such instance was also at the same venue, in the 2007 World Cup when Michael Clarke and AB de Villiers were run out for 92. The first such instance was in the 1999 World Cup in Hove, where Sourav Ganguly was run out for 97 and Jacques Kallis for 96.

Dav Whatmore talks about how things went downhill fast during his curtailed stint as Zimbabwe’s coach

Tristan Holme28-Jul-2016Dav Whatmore is not a happy man. More than seven weeks after he was fired as Zimbabwe’s coach, his pulse still quickens in anger as he talks of never having been treated as poorly in his 21 years of coaching at international level as he was in his Zimbabwe stint.According to Whatmore, there was nothing about the team’s lack of performance under the termination clauses in his contract. He says that the end came suddenly, without warning, during a training camp in Bulawayo at the end of May, when managing director Wilfred Mukondiwa delivered the news while ZC chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani stared at the floor.Mukuhlani declined to comment on the specifics of Whatmore’s sacking, pointing to a signed agreement between the parties that he believes is confidential. “We have never commented on our parting with him in the media based on that agreement,” he says.Whatmore believes he was on notice from the time Mukuhlani became chairman last August, taking over from Wilson Manase, whose overtures in December 2014, Whatmore says, were the main reason he decided to take a job that looked increasingly like a poisoned chalice.”These challenges are nothing new to me – taking on sides that are struggling,” Whatmore says. “But more than that, this chairman [Manase] followed up every call and every email and he wanted me, which was a great motivational factor.”

“If Dav Whatmore was coaching India and he lost three times in a row to Afghanistan, would he have survived? Why on earth should he survive for doing that in Zimbabwe?”Tavengwa Mukuhlani, ZC chairman

ZC had at the time recently sacked coach Stephen Mangongo after a tenure that culminated in a poor tour of Bangladesh, where Zimbabwe lost all eight of their matches. Whatmore believes that tour had a knock-on influence on his own poor results as Zimbabwe coach.”We were competitive in all the World Cup matches [in 2015] after I took over,” he says. “But the afternoon of the Pakistan match in Queensland, when Brendan Taylor told me, ‘Dav, I’m sorry but I’m leaving’, I felt so dejected. I knew then that was the beginning of the end for that team. He was the only player who was able to win some games for you. When he told me that, it was a horrible feeling.”When he’d made that decision to leave, he hadn’t known that I was going to be around, he didn’t know that there were going to be so many matches to be played in 2015, and he didn’t realise that the environment would be so much healthier for the whole team. So we were competitive in all of those games, but after he left, that’s when it became really difficult.”Whatmore’s assertion that Taylor would have stayed on in Zimbabwe is backed up by an interview the batsman gave in January this year, when he said: “If it wasn’t for the tour to Bangladesh at the end of 2014, I would probably have seen myself still playing for Zimbabwe – certainly for another year.”I’ve never hated cricket so much as on that tour. The way the players were handled and treated, especially spoken to, I couldn’t comprehend it. I think with the change of coach and the change of atmosphere, the way the players were so confident and relaxed when changes were made, I think that’s why I felt I could play my best cricket again at the World Cup, whereas in Bangladesh it was a torrid seven weeks.””When Brendan Taylor [right] told me, ‘Dav, I’m sorry but I’m leaving’, I felt so dejected”•AFPDespite Taylor’s superb World Cup, where he was the fourth highest run scorer, Zimbabwe only beat the UAE. They did, however, run South Africa, Pakistan and India close, and lost to Ireland by just five runs. Without Taylor, Whatmore’s Zimbabwe continued to struggle, but they did beat India in a T20I and won one-day games against New Zealand and Pakistan. Overall they won nine out of 33 completed ODIs under Whatmore, and six out of 20 T20Is, giving him win percentages that were slightly higher than Zimbabwe’s all-time records, and very similar to those of other coaches over the past six years.But it was the twin series defeats to Afghanistan that irked Mukuhlani and his board. “If Dav Whatmore was coaching India and he lost three times in a row to Afghanistan, would he have survived?” asks Mukuhlani. “Why on earth should he survive for doing that in Zimbabwe? Our ranking fell below Ireland and Afghanistan under his watch, so we need to be fair with each other.”If Dav Whatmore was fired after losing to India, I would not even have accepted the board to do that. But we struggled against Ireland in Harare and scraped through [Zimbabwe won a one-day series 2-1 in October]. We lost to Afghanistan three times in a row. We struggled against Scotland in the World T20. We were not very convincing against Hong Kong in that tournament, and we were completely outclassed by Afghanistan in the final match in Nagpur. So put yourself in my position and the board’s.”In truth, Zimbabwe have never had a side that won frequently for over a decade now. The difference from one incarnation to the next is generally how competitive they are when they lose, and Whatmore’s team showed improvement in this regard. Just six out of their 24 defeats were by 100-plus runs or more than five wickets, whereas his two predecessors, Andy Waller and Mangongo, saw their teams lose ten out of 27 ODIs by those margins, and win just six. In the wake of Whatmore’s dismissal, the three ODIs against India were all lost by eight or more wickets under interim coach, Makhaya Ntini.

“They’re making arbitrary decisions, as people sitting around a table who know nothing about the game. There is no clear pathway. Four [franchise] teams? I mean, bloody hell”Whatmore on the Zimbabwe cricket board

There was also improvement in the batting during Whatmore’s tenure. In 2014, only Sikandar Raza scored a century in Zimbabwe’s 16 ODIs. Under Whatmore, ten hundreds were scored by six different batsmen in 32 ODIs between January 2015 and January 2016.Whatmore accepts that his win-loss record was poor, but also points to the limiting factors. “To be smart about it, you look a bit deeper to see what you had to work with. That is paramount. And considering the available talent and the amount of times we had injuries to key players as well, I thought that we did as good a job as we possibly could. The biggest miss there was Brendan Taylor, and then we had a little gem in Graeme Cremer coming back. So one really good player left and one good one came back. If we had both of them, I reckon it would have been a bit different. We might have still had our fair share of losses, but we would have won one or two more.”He adds that the defeat to Afghanistan in Bulawayo was not helped by the conditions Zimbabwe delivered. “We were giving them tailor-made conditions for the visiting team,” he says. “I just asked for something that’s hard and true. A little bit of spin is all right. Instead, we had subcontinental conditions. And don’t forget Graeme Cremer, our No. 1 spinner, was not available. But they don’t understand the game.”The other major point upon reflection is that the decisions made by the [Mukuhlani] cricket board were taken by the board themselves, rather than going through the proper committees. They’re making arbitrary decisions, as people sitting around a table who know nothing about the game.”Also, you’ve got to have a structure that has a pathway through which players can perform and then get promoted and then play meaningful competition and get promoted again, and so on. It’s non-existent in Zimbabwe. There is no clear pathway. Or no good pathway anyway. Four [franchise] teams? I mean bloody hell. And they play each other twice, so that’s six games a year, and that’s it. Some players are just playing the odd game a year because there’s no second team. Internationals come back into franchise teams and then your franchise guys are just carrying water. It is really a dereliction of duty for the game.”Dav Whatmore believes that Wilson Manase’s (left) departure as chairman was the start of the end for him as Zimbabwe’s coach•AFPAnother bugbear for him was the fact that he had no say in the hiring and firing of assistant coaches once Mukuhlani took over. According to Whatmore, Waller was axed as batting coach – despite the batsmen’s gains – without his input, and Makhaya Ntini and Marvin Atapattu were brought on board. “I thought it was disrespectful,” he says. “I’m expected to work with these people and they report to me, but I have no say about who they are.”Mukuhlani claims that Whatmore’s complaint is inconsistent: “When he was appointed by the previous administration, Dav Whatmore did not come with backroom staff and he had no issue with that. Now that we are giving him backroom staff, he has an issue with our appointments, I find that very confusing. That’s number one.”Number two is that after every series, the technical staff must give their feedback. There was no request from Dav that he would want to appoint his backroom staff. We have a duty – not only a moral one but a constitutional one – to appoint the technical staff. It is within our rights.”Whatmore says that he was entitled to the final nine months’ pay from his contract when he was sacked. Instead he settled for three months, plus leave owing, bonuses owing and reimbursement for flights. “I could have sued them but it would have been like another Phil Simmons,” he says. Simmons’ legal wrangle with ZC has stretched for more than a decade following his dismissal as Zimbabwe coach in 2005, when he had two years remaining on his contract.Whatmore’s dismissal at the end of May meant that Zimbabwe had been through three coaches in two years. They also shuffled through three captains, three selection convenors, two bowling coaches and three batting coaches or consultants between India’s tour in July last year and their visit this June. “The main issue is that ZC looks to blame everyone else and never points the finger whilst looking into the mirror,” Whatmore says.”I think it will end up like Kenya. Cricket will never die because it’s in the schools and some of the schools take it seriously even if they may not play enough cricket. And it will be exposed on television – there will always be some competition there. But already, players are preferring to go overseas to further their careers. If you really had to predict, I can’t see it surviving internationally – particularly if they don’t get the same funding. They’re getting US$8-9 million a year and they’ve got a debt of almost $20m. If they get a reduced amount of funding, what’s going to happen then?”