Everything you need to know about the inaugural Women’s Premier League

Vishal Dikshit03-Mar-2023Right, so finally we have the Women’s IPL! Wait, or is it called something else?
It’s called the Women’s Premier League or just WPL.Cool, WPL. So when does it start and where?
It starts on March 4 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, with Mumbai Indians taking on Gujarat Giants. Before you ask, there are five teams, 22 matches in all, including the final on March 26 at the Brabourne Stadium at the other end of the city.So all matches are in Mumbai? What’s the format?
Yes, all in Mumbai. Technically, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, which also comes under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. All the games will be played at just the two grounds mentioned above.The five teams will play each other twice in the round-robin stage. That makes it eight games per team and 20 league games. Then, the team that finishes on top cruises straight into the final and watches the teams placed second and third battle it out in an eliminator that decides the second finalist.Related

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What time are the matches?
Most matches will start at 7.30pm IST, except on double-header days, when the first match will begin at 3.30pm, like in the IPL. The WPL has four such double-headers.Interesting. Who owns these teams again?
Three owners of IPL teams also bought teams here – Reliance got Mumbai Indians, the JSW and GMR group got Delhi Capitals, and Diageo bought Royal Challengers Bangalore. There are two new owners – Adani Sportsline bought Ahmedabad-based Gujarat Giants and Capri Global, a non-banking financial services company, took the Lucknow-based UP franchise, UP Warriorz (yes, that’s with a Z, not S).Who are the five captains?
We have two Indians and three Australians in charge:ESPNcricinfo LtdIs there the usual rule of four overseas players per XI, like in the IPL?
That’s right. Except that if a team has an Associate player – she could be played as the fifth overseas player in the XI. Capitals were the only team to buy an Associate player at the auction: Tara Norris, a left-arm quick, from USA.Who are the players to watch out for overall?
Among the big players, you have the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma and Beth Mooney among others. We have also put together a list of seven unknown players who could be future superstars.What do the five squads look like?
As per the rules, each squad has 15 to 18 members, with six overseas players each. Here are the five squads in full detail, along with their strengths and weaknesses.Why aren’t these teams all playing at their home grounds then?
The BCCI secretary Jay Shah said on the day of the players auction that the tournament may expand to more cities later on, but for now it’s all in Mumbai for logistical reasons – the fact that the tournament has been planned in a short period of time, only in the last few months.So what happens if more than two teams finish on the same number of points for any of the top three places?
Take out your calculator. Once the points are tied, the team with the most wins in the league stage will be placed higher. If the wins are also the same, the team with the higher net run rate will be placed higher. If the NRR is also equal, the team with the higher number of wickets taken per legal balls bowled in matches with results will be considered higher. Hopefully we won’t get that far.What happens if a match, say the final, is tied?
You can throw that calculator out, we’re not counting boundaries. If the scores are level in any game, then a Super Over will be played. If the Super Over is also tied, subsequent Super Overs shall be played until there is a winner. If it’s not possible to play or complete the Super Over, the match will be tied and both teams will be awarded one point each.If the Super Over is not possible in the eliminator or the final, then the team which finished higher on the table after the round-robin stage will be declared winner.And what if there’s a rain-curtailed match, given all games are being played in and around Mumbai?
Fair enough. Let’s also take climate change into account because it doesn’t (usually) rain in March in Mumbai. If it does, both teams need to bat a minimum of five overs to get a result, and the usual DLS rules apply.Will the DRS be available?
Yes. Each team will be allowed a maximum of two unsuccessful reviews per innings. UltraEdge and HawkEye technologies will be available to the third umpire for edge detection and ball-tracking.And we have the usual rules around concussion replacements and third umpires keeping tabs on bowlers overstepping?
Yes, it’s all business as usual.Is there free entry, like it was for some of the India vs Australia matches in December, or paid tickets like the IPL?
As of now, there is free entry for women at both grounds. Boys and men have to purchase tickets starting at INR 100 (USD 1.2 approx.).

Harmanpreet Kaur to lead, Meg Lanning, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews make the cut

S Sudarshanan27-Mar-2023
Hayley Matthews – Mumbai Indians
Her player-of-the-series outing in the inaugural WPL makes Matthews an overwhelming pick. She went unsold in the first round of the auction, eventually being picked up in the accelerated rounds. On the ground, she made an immediate impact, kicking off the WPL with a six and then never looking back. She was also effective with the ball, picking up 16 wickets in ten innings and also the Purple cap.Related

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Yastika Bhatia (wk) – Mumbai Indians
Even if she didn’t always convert her starts into big scores, Bhatia’s fluency at the top of the order helped Mumbai get off the blocks quickly. In fact, Bhatia’s 214 runs are the most in the WPL without a single half-century. She was a safe wicketkeeper and one of the few who contributed well with the bat.Meg Lanning – Delhi Capitals
Lanning carried Capitals’ batting though the tournament, scoring runs in almost every game. She finished as the leading run-getter in the WPL and looked on course in the title-clash too. She continued to middle the ball in the final despite Capitals losing regular wickets – her back-to-back fours off Nat Sciver-Brunt in the third over were all class. Lanning and Shafali Verma’s opening combination was an enviable one in the WPL.Nat Sciver-Brunt – Mumbai Indians
Cometh the big game, cometh the big name. Sciver-Brunt showed why she caused a bidding war in the auction. She occupied a crucial No. 3 spot in the batting order and owned the space, being as comfortable against spin as she was against seam. With the ball, she bowled the second-most deliveries – 114 – in the first six overs and had an economy rate of 5.63. Sciver-Brunt’s unbeaten 38-ball 72 in the Eliminator helped Mumbai romp into the final, where she anchored the chase and saw the team through, remaining unbeaten on 60.ESPNcricinfo LtdHarmanpreet Kaur (capt) – Mumbai Indians
Harmanpreet longed for the winning feeling and ensured she got it by being consistent with the bat. She got the WPL off to a flying start with 65 off just 30 balls against Gujarat Giants, and finished the season as fourth-highest run-getter. Harmanpreet led Mumbai with aplomb, ringing in changes and using the resources at her disposal optimally. In the final, she came in to bat in a tricky situation and calmly defused it with a 72-run partnership for the third wicket with Sciver-Brunt. She only fell with the win almost assured.Dayalan Hemalatha – Gujarat Giants
One of the few bright spots for Gujarat Giants, Hemalatha only enhanced her credentials as a finisher, something she has done quite frequently for Railways in the domestic circuit. Her strike rate of 157.29 for Giants was only second to Sophia Dunkley’s.Shreyanka Patil – Royal Challengers Bangalore
Royal Challengers Bangalore had a disappointing campaign overall, but Patil’s outings with both bat and ball were attention-grabbing. She started the tournament with a crisp pull shot and then showed her wares with the ball, particularly at the death. Patil was unflinching in the face of mounting attacks and can be looked at as a long-term player for Royal Challengers.Shikha Pandey impressed across all three facets of the game•BCCIShikha Pandey – Delhi Capitals
Pandey had a terrific all-round WPL. She finished with the third-most wickets among all pacers in the WPL, threw herself around in the field, and her cameos with the bat often gave Capitals useful impetus from the lower order, not least in the final. India’s captain Harmanpreet also made note of Pandey’s efforts and said, “Shikha was bowling brilliantly throughout the tournament. And today [in the final] when the team needed her batting, she took time and then executed it brilliantly.”Issy Wong – Mumbai Indians
Wong started the tournament with a first-ball six and also picked up the first hat-trick in the WPL. She used her pace and generated enough movement to get the better of the batters and also smartly used change-ups. Wong’s energy on the field often drew wild cheers from the crowd.Parshavi Chopra – UP Warriorz
Chopra had a limited role but left a lasting impact. Her figures of 0 for 35 in her first WPL outing against Mumbai didn’t do justice to the way she bowled. Against Giants, she truly showed her worth, using the wrong’un to dismiss both Hemalatha and Ashleigh Gardner. Part of a team that pushed Indian players to the forefront, Chopra sure grabbed her chances.Saika Ishaque – Mumbai Indians
Ishaque is perhaps the find of WPL 2023. A regular in the domestic circuit for Bengal, her disciplined left-arm spin by attacking the stumps got her rewards in the first half of the competition. After being a bit expensive in a couple of games in the second half, she held her own in both the Eliminator and the final, despite not having a truckload of wickets to show in them.

A look at the Australian batter’s 32nd Test century by the numbers

Sampath Bandarupalli29-Jun-202332 Centuries for Steven Smith in Test cricket are the joint-second most for Australia in the format. Ricky Ponting tops the list with 41 hundreds, while Steve Waugh also has 32 tons.ESPNcricinfo Ltd174 Innings Smith needed to score his 32nd Test century, the fewest among the 12 players with the feat. The previous quickest was Ponting, who scored his 32nd Test ton in the 176th innings he batted.22 Hundreds for Smith in the first innings of Test matches, the most for any batter, surpassing Ponting’s 21 tons. Seven of Smith’s 22 centuries came when the team was put into bat, the joint-most, alongside Jacques Kallis.ESPNcricinfo Ltd8 Test hundreds for Smith in England, the second-most by any visiting player in the country, behind only Sir Donald Bradman’s eleven tons. Smith has seven of those eight centuries against England, while another came against India in the WTC final earlier this month.12 Test centuries for Smith against England. Only Bradman (19 against England) and Sunil Gavaskar (13 against West Indies) have more triple-digit scores versus an opponent in Test cricket than Smith.1 Number of players to complete 9000 Test runs in fewer innings than Smith’s 174 innings. Kumar Sangakkara is the fastest to the 9000-run milestone, needing only 172 innings. Smith, however, is the fastest in terms of Tests played to complete 9000 runs, as he needed only 99 matches, while the previous fastest was Brian Lara in 103 games.ESPNcricinfo Ltd12 Smith’s hundreds in the Ashes. Only Bradman’s 19 tons rank higher in the Ashes, while Jack Hobbs also has 12 centuries. Smith is also now the fourth-highest run-getter in the Ashes with 3176 runs.2014 Test runs scored by Smith in England. Only three other visiting players have scored 2000-plus runs in England – Bradman (2674), Allan Border (2082) and Viv Richards (2014).416 Australia’s total in the first-innings is the highest for a visiting team at Lord’s since Australia’s 566 for 8 in the 2015 Ashes. Australia’s run rate of 4.13 is also the highest for any visiting team to make 400-plus in a Test innings at Lord’s.

He has the smarts, maturity and stroke-play to fill up a spot that was occupied by two greats for almost three decades

Shashank Kishore24-Jun-20232:22

Has Cheteshwar Pujara played his last Test?

The winds of change are here.For a better part of the last 28 years, India have had two rocks at No. 3 in Test cricket – Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara, who played 267 Tests between them. Their style of play is a throwback to classical ways: mind over matter, technique and hard grind over flamboyance, and crease occupation as important as runs on the board.They made a single look sexy. Think back to Sydney 2008 or Jo’burg 2018, when they elicited wild applause from the crowd for scoring a run after a succession of dots and leaves. They had that effect on you. Leaving the ball was like muscle memory, a sound defensive game their USP. It’s this layer to their game that brought them a combined 20,483 Test runs and 55 centuries.Related

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Now, with Pujara left out for the start of India’s new WTC cycle, beginning with the two-Test tour of the Caribbean in July, India have three batters to choose from to replace him. Among them, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal have earned maiden call-ups. Then there is Shubman Gill, currently an all-format opener.Irrespective of who they pick, one thing is certain: unlike previously, India will be picking a T20 superstar to fill up one of the most critical batting positions. For now, most indications are that a newcomer will be allowed to ease into the role and it’s likely to be Jaiswal, the 21-year-old from Mumbai who has built a solid body of work for the past three seasons.On the face of it, it’s easy to assume Jaiswal is an IPL pick. No uncapped batter has scored more in a single season than the 625 runs he made in 2023, including the tournament’s fastest fifty, off just 13 balls. He pulls and hooks some of the most fearsome fast bowlers for fun. He mimics Jos [Buttler] ‘s scoops and ramps at training and spends hours off the field talking T20 batting with him.Those who know Jaiswal vouch for that inquisitive nature being a reflection of his personality. A go-getter who constantly seeks help in refining himself. “I realised only if you ask for help, you will get it and when there are so many people willing to, you have to make that effort as a youngster,” he told ESPNcricinfo last year. “Later I realised, it wasn’t just my T20 batting that improved. My English got better too.”Earlier this month, Jaiswal was part of India’s WTC contingent for the final as a reserve player after Gaikwad opted out. And after losing the final, when Rohit Sharma touched upon playing a certain “brand of cricket” and how they needed to find those who have done well in domestic cricket, it was as much hint as one could have that the transition phase was about to get kickstarted into motion.Yashasvi Jaiswal has an impressive first-class record, with 1845 runs from 26 innings•ICC via Getty ImagesThis brings us to Jaiswal’s selection. His record in first-class cricket makes for impressive reading: 1845 runs in 26 innings at an average of 80.21. He has converted nine of his 11 half-centuries into three figures. That’s a peek into his insatiable hunger for runs. It’s the kind of hunger that once had him sleeping in tents as a newcomer to Mumbai; it made him realise if someone made 100, he perhaps needed 200 to get noticed.But without for a moment romanticising this “struggle” those from Mumbai often speak of, it’s impressive enough that Jaiswal has managed to carve an identity for himself over the past year alone. Let’s be clear: Jaiswal is unlikely to be your stonewaller; a first-class strike rate of nearly 70 tells you he’ll be anything but that. Jaiswal has developed into a free-stroking batter without compromising on his technique.It’s an uncomplicated approach. There are no exaggerated trigger movements apart from a tap, and brief back-and-across movement for balance that allows him to easily transfer weight forward or back. Jaiswal almost always meets the ball with his eyes right over. And fluid footwork against the short ball allows him to ride the bounce and look increasingly comfortable while tucking deliveries safely into the square.What sets him apart though is the capability to hit similar deliveries into the long leg fence by getting inside the line. With Jaiswal, there’s no one method. His ever-evolving game is a series of minor tweaks made over time. Yet, he can be stodgy when you need him to be. Like in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal last June against a decent Uttar Pradesh attack.Playing in only his third first-class game ever, Jaiswal was dropped twice, on 33 and 37. The first was a lazy swish at a fifth-stump line delivery that had him nicking. Then he flashed one to gully where a tough chance was put down. From beyond the ropes, Mumbai coach Amol Muzumdar sent a clear, but stern message. “You have two options: get a single, watch the next 15 minutes from the non-striker’s end or don’t play any shots even if the ball is there to.”For the remainder of the day, Jaiswal embodied composure and walked back after batting for 353 minutes and getting to a century, his second in first-class cricket, to a polite but satisfied “sir, I followed your instructions” note to his coach.It underlines Jaiswal’s maturity, which for someone just 21 is refreshing. As such, the prospect of filling a position occupied by two greats for close to three decades can be daunting. Jaiswal, though, is equipped to not be burdened by that and embrace sterner challenges that will come his way.

Former England captain admits personal tragedy helped change perspective, as he prepares for Red for Ruth Day at Lord’s

Matt Roller28-Jun-2023Andrew Strauss has a strong claim to be England’s most successful Test captain of the modern era: Ashes victories both home and away, more than twice as many wins as losses in charge, and a rise to the top of the ICC’s Test rankings clinched with a whitewash against India.And yet, as Strauss reflects on his career, he has a lingering sense that his team could have achieved more than they did. “We felt like we’d achieved everything we wanted to,” Strauss said, “but there was something slightly missing. And it was that excitement, that feeling of pioneering, trying new things. If I had my time again, maybe I would do things differently.”That view is informed, in part, by Strauss’s career since his playing retirement in 2012. As England’s managing director, he was an instigator of their white-ball revolution. Last year, back in the role on an interim basis, he appointed Rob Key to his old, position, and Key in turn then chose Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes as Test coach and captain.”That’s a reflection I’ve had for many years, starting with the white-ball revolution in 2015: that there are different ways to play the game,” Strauss said. “As I’m a bit older and have less hair now, my thinking on this has changed a bit from, ‘It’s only about winning’ to, ‘It’s also about how you win’.”That’s what Stokes and McCullum have done now: they’ve won, but they’ve won with style. They’re questioning centuries-held conventions in the game – and doing it with good reason. The game has evolved and changed dramatically over the last few years.”Strauss admits his glory with England was about personal goals and ambitions, whereas the foundation is about ‘something greater than me’•Getty ImagesBut Strauss’s perspective has also changed by events in his personal life. Five years ago, his wife Ruth was diagnosed with an incurable lung cancer that affects non-smokers. She passed away later that year, survived by her husband and their sons Luca and Sam.Strauss set up the Ruth Strauss Foundation in 2019 to provide support for families and raise awareness of non-smoking lung cancers, and Thursday marks the fifth annual Red for Ruth Day at Lord’s.”Seeing her courage and her bravery, you completely change your perspective in life about what’s important, where you get fulfilment and where purpose lies,” Strauss said. “I was very proud of what I was able to achieve in an England shirt but, in many ways, that was about me achieving my own goals and ambitions.”This is something much greater than me. I know how hard it is for all those families. It just breaks my heart that every day, there are hundreds of kids being put in the situation that my kids were put in. We can’t change that, but we can make it a little bit easier. If we’re able to do that, that warms my soul and I know it’ll be warming Ruth’s soul too.”The foundation has raised millions of pounds through previous Red for Ruth days, but the money itself is not the point. As Strauss puts it: “The Ruth Strauss Foundation is not here to raise money. The Ruth Strauss Foundation here is here to help as many people as possible.”But the Ashes provides an opportunity that other series do not: “People are going through this from all walks of life in all parts of the country, many of whom have never heard of Cricket or the Ruth Strauss Foundation. The Ashes Test match is hopefully a time when people that perhaps aren’t always watching cricket are suddenly tuning in.”Related

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In the past 12 months, the foundation has rolled out peer support groups for both the children and surviving spouses of people with incurable cancer. “People feel a really strong kind of desire and yearning to talk to people who’ve been through something similar to them,” Strauss explained.”It’s great having professional help, but it’s equally powerful just to talk to other people who’ve gone through it. And I think that’s even more the case for kids: kids find it hard to speak to adults, but they find it easier to speak to other kids. More broadly, [it’s about] having a conversation about death, which we’re just not very good at in this country.”In Strauss’s own case, “It was one of those situations that my friends and family, they just weren’t qualified to help me. And so I did reach out to people that had been through something similar; I hung on their every word. And of course for people that have been through it, it’s a lovely thing to share their experiences but also to remember their loved ones.”There was no shortage of criticism for England on Wednesday: for their selection, their catching, their lengths, their body language, their willingness to speak to Australia’s players. As Lord’s turns red on Thursday, perhaps it will provide an opportunity to remember that there are more important things to worry about.For more information and to donate to the Red for Ruth Foundation, click here.

He was a magnificent cricketer who battled hard on the field and refused to play the political game

Mark Nicholas07-Sep-2023At the start of the 1995 English summer, my last in first-class cricket after 18 years with Hampshire, we were engaged in a pre-season “friendly” with Sussex. Stationed at cover-point was our newly recruited overseas player: thick-set and strong, with a deceptive turn of speed, and the most wonderful eye for the ball.The Sussex opening batter cut hard to an area just behind point for what appeared to be a certain boundary off the first ball of the match. The fielder, who was naturally right-handed, threw himself to his left just as a goalkeeper might, and the ball smacked into the palm of his left hand. In one movement he rolled his body 180 degrees, sprung upright like a big cat threatened, and with the ball now cleverly transferred to his right hand, he took aim. The throw was wizard, flat and screaming, and hit one stump flush with the sound of perfect contact echoing around the small and empty ground. It was a breathtaking moment.That man was Heath Streak. It was with the heaviest heart that I read earlier this week of his passing aged just 49. I knew little of the cancer or of his new life but I knew him well back then and did not meet a better man. Modest and quietly spoken, his simple life as farmer, hunter and cricketer had become a complex one of leadership, politics and punishment. He kept sanity through wonderful parents, an extraordinary wife and lively children. He lost some battles but the hardest for any of those loved ones to take was the last one.I first met him as a boy who played cricket in the bush with the kids whose parents worked the family farm. Denis, his father, briefly served time in prison for raging against Robert Mugabe’s land-reclaim initiative that took much of the Streak farm, a magnificent place in Matabeleland about 50 miles from Bulawayo. His mother, Shona, stayed calm and strong through the traumatic experiences of those bewildering days, and somehow the Streaks managed, with about a tenth of what they once had, to keep a few cattle and make a turn from a small safari park.Related

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On my various cricket tours and holidays to Zimbabwe, their hospitality knew no boundary. In 1990 with an England A team that included the likes of Michael Atherton and Graham Thorpe, we stayed a couple of nights to ride horses, swim, play tennis and barbecue. Denis was a good enough seam bowler to have played for Zimbabwe himself, and on one balmy afternoon, we set up stumps and took guard against a couple of Streaks, each of whom made us think and, occasionally, even duck and weave. As the sun set, beer was drunk and the fire burned, and we told stories in the evening shadows and laughed until the stars in the sky laughed with us.Streak junior was a magnificent cricketer, all power, wit and will. Hampshire lost the first three Championship games of the 1995 season, and while reviewing the roles of every player in the team, I urged Heath to drop the modesty and get us winning a few matches. He did, and how! We went on a splendid run, climbing the Championship table to near dizzying heights before settling on the right place for our talent pool at the time, somewhere around mid-table. He bowled a heavy ball fast-medium, swung it late and never gave an inch. He smashed it long but was rarely in for long enough to fully justify that keen eye. He fielded as if he were fighting a war.Of course, it was the war at home that did for him. Made captain of Zimbabwe, he refused to play the political game. Specifically and publicly, Streak objected to the quota system that demanded at least five black players in the national team. His refusal to toe the line cost him his job. Upon the announcement of his sacking (the board’s explanation was that he had resigned), 13 white players stood down from the Zimbabwe team. Streak later returned to the side, albeit briefly, before retiring at 31 years of age.In 65 Tests he took more than 200 wickets, bowling out England at Lord’s and Pakistan in Harare. In one-day cricket he scored 2000 runs and took 200 wickets – remarkable.Streak with a four-legged friend at his farm in 1996•Chris Turvey/PA Photos/Getty ImagesHaving taken over the captaincy of the weakest team in international cricket in 2000, he led them successfully, winning four in 21 Tests and 18 of 65 ODIs. “Our talisman who single-handedly won many games for us,” wrote Henry Olonga, the Zimbabwe seam bowler, in his autobiography.Distressingly, Streak became embroiled in controversy when found to have taken bitcoin for information provided to a potential corruptor. He emphatically denied match-fixing. Having played with him and come to understand the character and beliefs that drove him forward, such an act would seem impossible.In essence, he made a mistake and fell foul of the ICC’s anti-corruption code. From it came an unfairly long eight-year ban, but even that could not wither his desire to return to coaching when it was over.Perhaps the cancer within came from the stress of an always challenging life played out mainly against the odds. It is heartbreaking to think of what Heath had been through and how early he has gone. Cricket can wrap its arms around you or spit you out on the sidewalk of life.I cannot help but think of Denis and Shona, Nadine and the kids, these fabulous people and their loss. They know best that this was a man who gave everything to every moment of his time on earth and that Zimbabwean sport, cricket in general we can say, owes him a great debt.For Denis, at least, there is the tiniest consolation. In 1995-96, he and Heath played a first-class match for Matabeleland together. Not many a father and son can say that. Right now, we can only say goodbye to our African friend and wish him peace at last and for evermore.

India’s captain has just ten days to prepare for two home Tests after a gruelling WBBL campaign, having not played the format since 2021 or a home Test since 2014

Alex Malcolm22-Nov-2023How do you prepare for a home Test match when you have not done it for nearly a decade, and you have only done it once in a 14-year international career?That is the big challenge facing Harmanpreet Kaur. India’s captain has had a glittering international career, playing in 285 internationals, and has become a globetrotting superstar in leagues across the world – she is currently the only Indian player playing in the WBBL in Australia.Extraordinarily, though, Harmanpreet will play more home Tests in two weeks in December, against England and Australia in Mumbai, than she has in her previous 14 years at international level. The only home Test in her career came back in 2014 against South Africa where she took nine wickets in a huge innings victory. She has only played one Test match since then, full stop, in 2021 against England, and three Tests in her career overall.Related

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Making the task harder is the preparation. She won’t leave Australia until after Melbourne Renegades’ final game at the MCG against Melbourne Stars on Saturday night. She will then have just ten days to prepare for the start of the three-match T20I series against England that precedes the Test that starts on December 14.”The Test series is something which we are really looking forward to because I haven’t played in front of a home crowd [since 2014], so I’m really excited for that,” Harmanpreet told ESPNcricinfo. “The challenge for us is that we haven’t played with the red ball. We have been playing with the white ball for so many years, even in domestic cricket also we don’t have red-ball cricket back home. So the challenge for us is to make yourself ready in such a short time.”Harmanpreet’s Renegades team-mates are facing the same preparation pressures with England’s Tammy Beaumont and Australia’s Georgia Wareham both aiming to play in the respective Test matches against India with similarly compromised preparations. Although they have more recent Test experience, with Beaumont making a stunning double-century in the Ashes this year.There had been hopes from Australia’s standpoint that their bowlers would get some Test-match practice in during the WBBL in order to increase their loads. They actually trained with pink balls during the October ODI series against West Indies in anticipation of a day-night Test in India, but that was subsequently changed to a red-ball game.

“I had that thought if I can simultaneously do some red-ball practice also, but because it’s such a packed schedule you can’t mix things”Harmanpreet Kaur

But the WBBL schedule is so tightly packed with 14 games in six weeks and a huge travel burden, that it has been difficult to find time. Harmanpreet had grand designs on getting some red-ball practice in while in Australia, but the weekly grind of play, travel, play, travel with very little training in between has made that impossible to implement.”I had that thought if I can simultaneously do some red-ball practice also, but because it’s such a packed schedule you can’t mix things,” Harmanpreet said. “We’re playing T20 cricket and the Test game is a totally different kind of game, so I didn’t want to mix it. When I’m going back, I have ten days to prepare myself.”Harmanpreet missed India’s last Test against Australia on the Gold Coast in late 2021 because of a thumb injury. But she said she spent a lot of that match observing how the game unfolded to try and get a sense of how to play long-form cricket and how to lead her side tactically.”When I’m going back, I have ten days to prepare myself [for Test cricket]”•Getty ImagesBut in the short term, her focus is on finishing the season well with Renegades. It has been a disastrous tournament for a team that had high expectations coming into the WBBL off the back of recruiting three of the world’s most in-form players in Harmanpreet, Beaumont and Hayley Matthews. Renegades are anchored to the bottom of the table with just two wins from 12 games.However, they have a chance to finish the season well. Firstly, against Hobart Hurricanes at Bellerive Oval on Thursday, before finishing with the Melbourne Derby at the MCG on Saturday, which will be part of the WBBL’s stadium series. It is the first time the WBBL has held a standalone fixture at the MCG. There have been games there in the past, but they have been part of double-headers with men’s BBL matches.The Melbourne derby will be the first women’s game at the MCG since the historic 2020 T20 World Cup final, where Harmanpreet captained India against Australia. She said she was thrilled to get the chance to return to the venue and play there again.”It’s always an honour to play here at one of the best stadiums to play,” Harmanpreet said. “When we played the T20 World Cup final here, and before that in some games against Australia, it’s been always amazing. And now again this season we are getting the opportunity to play here and I’m really looking forward to that.”

Why England were a pale shadow of their 2019 selves, and how Australia’s power-over-technique template paid off

Kartikeya Date14-Dec-2023Travis Head faced Jasprit Bumrah on the fourth ball of the third over in the second innings of the 2023 ODI World Cup final. Bumrah was bowling around the wicket to him. The delivery was aimed at the off stump from wide of the crease and moved away. Head, according to the ball-by-ball commentary on this site, “stays leg side of the ball and almost nicks it off”. Head was beaten on the inside or outside edge in this manner on the seventh, ninth, tenth, 18th, 19th, 22nd, 26th, 28th, 29th and 30th balls he faced. This included him inside-edging past leg stump, playing and missing outside off stump, and being beaten on the inside edge as he fell over. Before scoring 25, Head was beaten multiple times in nearly every single one of the ways it is possible for a batter to be beaten by a bowler in cricket. He played a false shot to ten of his first 30 balls.He went on to score a brilliant 137 off 120 balls, playing only ten false shots in his last 90 balls. When India batted earlier that day, Rohit Sharma played five false shots in his first 30 balls. He played his sixth to his 31st and was dismissed for 47. A few balls later, Shreyas Iyer stayed leg side of the ball and nicked off against Pat Cummins instead of merely playing and missing.Head’s survival and Iyer’s dismissal were not by the batter’s design. No player’s survival of a false shot is by design. It is a matter of that dreaded thing – luck. In cricket, luck is the accumulation of favourable outcomes for a set of actions to an extent that is significantly different from the average expected outcomes for that set of actions. It is only by accounting for luck that distinctions in skills can be located.Related

• A World Cup of fast scoring, big wins, and no toss advantage

• Rohit, Kohli, Maxwell, Mitchell in ESPNcricinfo's team of the tournament

• India lost to the conditions, but could they have been braver with the bat?

In addition to the three traditional measurements in cricket – runs, balls and wickets – ESPNcricinfo’s control measurement records whether or not the batter was in control of the delivery. Control makes three measurements possible:1. The frequency of a false shot (balls per false shot)
2. How often a false shot results in a dismissal (false shots per dismissal)
3. Runs per false shotThese measurements help us locate luck and skill (or efficiency). For instance, if Head had played only four false shots in his first 30 balls, to dismiss him, India would have needed one in four false shots to go their way. As it happened, they needed only one in ten to go their way in those first 30 balls. That is to say, they forced a false shot every third ball on average. In the remaining 90 balls, they created comparatively little jeopardy. In that early part of the innings, Head was lucky. But after his first 25 or so runs, India would have needed to be lucky to dismiss him.The control measurement is the hinge of the cricketing contest. It helps to measure how much jeopardy the bowlers create, how much risk the batter has assumed, how lucky the bowlers are, and how efficient the batter is. Before we use it to understand the 2023 World Cup and how its patterns were different from those of the 2019 tournament, it is worth reflecting on the patterns of the control measurement.A survey of the control record since January 1, 2016 shows that a dismissal occurs every 10.1 false shots in Tests, 7.7 false shots in ODIs, and 5.6 false shots in T20Is. A false shot occurs once every 5.6 balls in Tests, once every 4.8 balls in ODIs, and once every 3.3 balls in T20Is. Quicker scoring involves more frequent risks and also bigger risks (the average false shot is more likely to result in a dismissal in a T20 than in a Test). Within each format, the evidence suggests three things.First, a batter’s capacity to avoid false shots (Balls Per False Shot) and to survive them (False Shots Per Dismissal) depends on skill. The table below gives the rates for each by batting position in Tests and ODIs.