England opener hopes he’s turned a corner after back-to-back fifties for England and Kent

Vithushan Ehantharajah27-Sep-2022″‘Up and down’ is generous – I think it was more just down!”Zak Crawley is speaking at the end of day two of Kent’s final County Championship match against Somerset at Canterbury. Division One survival has already been secured via bonus points, following an early declaration from Warwickshire, who need to force victory against Hampshire at Edgbaston to avoid the drop themselves.Crawley played his part on that front, making an engaging 79 in Kent’s first innings which, as part of an opening stand of 176 with Tawanda Muyeye, laid the groundwork for their overnight total of 405 for seven. Coming off the back of the 69 not out that helped England secure a 2-1 series victory against South Africa in the final Test at the Kia Oval, it might be tempting to suggest that he’s rediscovered his touch.The man himself, however, isn’t quite ready to embrace that claim fully. This was, after all, just a fourth half-century in the Championship and fifth overall in red-ball cricket this summer. It is now 34 innings, split evenly between international and domestic cricket, since Crawley’s last first-class century – against West Indies in Antigua back in March.”It’s been a tough year – probably my worst summer I’ve ever had,” Crawley says, matter-of-factly. There is, however, a degree of satisfaction that he made it out the other end.”I’m pleased with myself that I could bounce back ,” he adds. “I always thought I would, so it’s fine – it just took longer than I thought. It’s nice to find some rhythm and take a bit of confidence into the winter. Hopefully, all being well, I get picked in those squads.”The squads he speaks of are those for Pakistan (three Tests) and then New Zealand (two). His uncertainty is understandable having averaged just 23 for the Test summer, bolstered by that healthy red-inker in the last of 13 innings. He was averaging just 17.25 in the 12 Tests leading up to it, and knows he is under pressure for his place from the likes of Nottinghamshire’s Ben Duckett and Lancashire’s Keaton Jennings, not to mention the precocious Harry Brook, who is currently impressing for the white-ball side out in Pakistan after a summer spent carrying drinks for all but the final Test.Crawley, however, believes he is finishing the season with renewed confidence, and that was particularly evident during this latest knock for Kent. All 13 of his boundaries were sweet, and he was particularly devastating on the pull shot – the very shot with which the Crawley infatuation began, from his days as a Kent Academy kid in the nets through to the 2021-22 Ashes and a pull shot off Mitchell Starc at Sydney that his England team-mates still talk of as if it were their own. And, as in that Sydney innings, a three-figure score looked nailed on until a Green seamer prised him out in the 70s – Cameron Green for 77 on that occasion, Somerset’s Ben Green for 79 today.Of course, you learn more from failure, and by his own admission, Crawley has had plenty to digest on that front: “I’ve learned an awful lot – mainly what not to do.” Having had some time to adjust since that last Test knock on September 12 – he only started hitting balls again a couple of days ago – he can reflect more honestly about the missteps.”When I was out of nick, I was putting restrictions on where I could score,” he admits. “I was getting more and more negative, in my shell.Zak Crawley admits he was doubting himself this summer even while England backed him to the hilt•Getty Images”It might not have come across like that in some of the shots I was playing,” he laughed. “But I find when I’m negative, I don’t move my feet very well, I’m not moving my body, so it comes across as loose shots. When I’m moving well, I’m getting in good positions and hitting those balls for four. It’s more of a mindset thing and positivity thing and stuff around my practice as well that I got slightly wrong as well, I feel.”The mention of practice is instructive. For a time during his struggles with England this summer, the only thing point the management feared he might be losing his sense of self came in August. In the lead-up to the Lord’s Test, head coach Brendon McCullum questioned why Crawley was focusing so much on the sweep shot in the nets and worried he was getting lost in his own head. The balls he was trying to sweep were ones he would usually launch back down the ground. Sure enough, in the second innings of that first Test against South Africa, Crawley dropped to one knee against the left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj and was trapped lbw for 13.It’s hard not to empathise with Crawley around stuff like this, even if you feel he has been afforded a luxury of persistent selection unheard of in recent times. Because, as much as Ben Stokes and McCullum have bigged him up publicly and privately, he admits to finding aspects of the new ethos they were pushing hard to grasp. The evidence of the summer suggested that positivity was the only way to go – four chases on the bounce against New Zealand (three) and India (one), followed by two strong performances to overturn the only defeat of the summer at the hands of South Africa – but Crawley himself found he was struggling to commit. Something he now regrets.”I’ve learned a lot from [McCullum and Stokes] this year about the way they play the game, the positive mindset and backing yourself. They are two champions of that, aren’t they?Related

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“It finally clicked towards the end of the summer, the messaging they were trying to give. I couldn’t fully… I felt under pressure for my place so it’s hard fully to buy into that. I wish I had bought into it from the start now.”There was no particular lightbulb moment, Crawley insists, although McCullum’s summer-long determination to unlock the enjoyment within the England squad did appear to pay off at the bitter end.”It was more of a gradual, over time, just decided I’ve got to back myself here,” Crawley said. “It’s a mental game at the end of the day, so if you back yourself to score runs, you’re going to score runs more often than not.”I feel like I was just tentative this year. And I decided towards the back end I was going to stop being tentative, and I’ve played a bit better.”He still potentially has one more innings this summer, though that is largely dependent on a Somerset second-innings fightback (they currently trail by 203) and the weather not interfering. Nevertheless, a return to some semblance of form, the boost of keeping Kent up, and the small comfort of moving past 3,000 first-class runs for the county could be the silver lining to a tough six months.”We’ll see what happens,” Crawley says. “I’ve got a lot of confidence going forward and in this new way I’ve been playing towards the end, a bit more positively. That suits me more.”

It was a birthday to remember for the Strikers fast bowler, whose 5 for 3 against Thunder in the BBL came at the right time in his up-and-down career

Tristan Lavalette11-Jan-2023Adelaide Strikers quick Henry Thornton will never forget his 26th birthday. His present? A remarkable haul of 5 for 3 to help rout Sydney Thunder for 15 all out in a stunning performance that made global headlines.”It was amazing and surreal to be involved in. I have never even bowled that well in the backyard,” Thornton told ESPNcricinfo.With the type of venom once unleashed by his hero Brett Lee, Thornton bowled unrelenting full-length fast deliveries that ashen-faced Thunder batters could only tamely poke behind the wicket.Related

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For many scrambling to watch highlights, it was the first time they took notice of the blonde-haired Thornton who hits the pitch hard and attacks the stumps at pace.”I try to hit over 140kmph consistently. While you may go for runs, you are a chance to take wickets and go through a team,” Thornton, who wears No. 58 in homage to Lee, said.”Speed is king. I’ve always believed in that. Bowling fast is what sets me apart from others.”While his performances have naturally dipped from that high point, Thornton was the BBL’s second-highest wicket-taker at mid-season.It was the heights expected from Thornton many years ago when he made a rapid rise through junior ranks and represented Australia at Under-19 level.At just 20, he made his BBL debut for Sydney Sixers against Brisbane Heat and dismissed Jimmy Peirson for his first wicket but leaked 40 runs and never played for them again.”I was really young and got thrown into it. I didn’t think I was ready at the time,” Thornton reflected on his BBL debut.But his obvious raw talent saw him earn a contract with NSW although he was stymied by back injuries and eventually delisted after the 2018-19 domestic season.”I felt like I just needed an opportunity and wasn’t getting it,” Thornton said. “I always believed in my ability and believed I was good enough but I wasn’t in the system. I was close to pulling the pin”.Instead of quitting altogether, Thornton plugged away in Sydney grade cricket before deciding he needed a change of scenery to rejuvenate his career.So he ventured south to Melbourne, where he joined the famous St Kilda cricket club – a renowned breeding ground for Victorian state cricketers.

“There were expectations in his own mind where he wanted to be. He self-reflected and made a move to Melbourne. He is going into the golden years of his career and we see him as potentially a long-term player.”Jason Gillespie on Henry Thornton

He was mentored by veteran quick Simon O’Brien, particularly on how to better execute under pressure. While captain Adam Crosthwaite, a stalwart for Victoria in the 2000s, taught him the intricacies of setting fields.It manifested in a spectacular premier club season in 2020-21, where he took 36 wickets at 14.42. “I probably needed to be let go by NSW, it was the best thing that happened to me,” Thornton said. “I had to pick myself off the canvas and learn the craft.”But his starring turn for St Kilda failed to stir BBL interest with Thornton overlooked by every team ahead of the 2021-22 season.”There are a lot of players in premier or grade cricket who should have an opportunity but they’re missed and fall through the cracks,” he said. “Just because you’re not part of a system doesn’t mean you’re not good enough.”While on holiday in Sorrento, a picturesque coastal town in Victoria, over the festive season in late 2021, Thornton received a phone call out of the blue from Strikers boss Tim Nielsen who was scouring for a replacement fast bowler.”I knew it was a massive opportunity,” he said. “I thought if I could play one game and bowl fast I would be so happy with that. I had only been asking for an opportunity.”Five years after his sole BBL game, Thornton felt prepared and equipped to hold his own out in the middle. His confidence was justified when Thornton cemented a regular spot to be a key part of Strikers’ late season revival with 13 wickets at 15.92 from seven matches.Thornton became a strike weapon in Strikers’ strong attack and was often deployed in the powerplay or when a wicket was needed. His growing stature was underlined when Thornton was backed to bowl at the death during Strikers’ agonising last ball defeat against Sixers with a grand final spot up for grabs.”When the season ended I sat down with my partner and couldn’t believe what had happened. It was a blur,” he said. “I felt in a better place with my skills than when I debuted. I’m not the finished product but I felt more comfortable.”Thornton’s momentum continued when he was named Victoria’s Marsh Cup 50-over player of the season. Perhaps surprisingly, he was overlooked for a state contract with Victoria but his disappointment was short-lived after South Australia’s hierarchy once again came calling.”To get delisted and come back…it’s something that I didn’t think would happen,” Thornton said. “It [South Australia’s contract] was reward for a lot of hard work. It’s been a long journey.”South Australia/Strikers head coach Jason Gillespie had never seen Thornton bowl live before last season’s BBL, but was left impressed with his ability to fight through adversity and saw parallels with his own injury-riddled career.”I knew he had ups and downs after a rapid rise,” Gillespie told ESPNcricinfo. “I know what it’s like because when you’re young you want everything.Henry Thornton celebrates with this team-mates•Cricket Australia via Getty Images”There were expectations in his own mind where he wanted to be. He had to adjust those thoughts and let his body heal. He self-reflected and made a move to Melbourne. He is going into the golden years of his career and we see him as potentially a long-term player.”Thornton has benefited from Gillespie’s transparent ethos. “The advice has been simple: be super clear with what you want to do and communicate that to the captain,” Thornton said. “My plans are super simple – bowl as quick as I can and try to hit the stumps. That’s my role in the team. It’s about playing with freedom and having belief.”While the focus is firmly on the BBL, Thornton is hopeful of making a first-class debut at some stage after being in the selection frame for South Australia during the first half of the Sheffield Shield season.”A guy who can bowl 145kmph can be a massive asset, we’ve seen how devastating he can be,” Gillespie said. “He’ll need to work on his variations so he can be an all conditions, all surfaces type of bowler.”We’re conscious of not overcooking him. We’ve got nine seamers on staff at South Australia, but he’s in the conversation [for their Shield team] constantly.”All of that’s ahead but, whatever happens, Thornton will always have his magical 26th birthday to saviour.”I don’t think that will be repeated in my career. Something I will look back on at the end of my career and enjoy,” he said. “It’s been a crazy 12 months. I am just trying to play every game like it’s my last.”

India’s replacement opener entered the record books when he hit a 131-ball 210 against Bangladesh – here’s the story in numbers

Sampath Bandarupalli10-Dec-2022126 – Balls Kishan needed for his double-century, the fastest in ODI cricket.The previous fastest in men’s ODIs was 138 balls by Chris Gayle, against Zimbabwe in 2015 World Cup, while the quickest double in all ODIs [across men and women] was Amelia Kerr’s 134 ball effort against Ireland in 2018.0 – Players to convert their first ODI century into a double century before Kishan. The previous highest score for the first century was 194* by Charles Coventry, against Bangladesh in 2009 in Bulawayo.24y 145d – Kishan’s age on Saturday, making him the youngest player to score a double-hundred in men’s ODIs. The previous youngest was Rohit Sharma, who was 26 years and 186 days old at the time of his first double in 2013 against Australia.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 – Kishan is now the first batter to score a double-century in ODI cricket against Bangladesh. The previous highest score against Bangladesh was the unbeaten 194 by Coventry.0 – Number of individual ODI scores in Bangladesh higher than Kishan’s 210. The previous highest score on Bangladesh soil was by Shane Watson, who scored an unbeaten 185 in 2011 in Dhaka.34.6 – Team overs when Kishan reached 200 in Chattogram, the earliest point any batter has completed the landmark in ODIs. The previous earliest was in 43.3 overs by Virender Sehwag when he scored 219 against West Indies in 2011.156 – Runs scored by Kishan in boundaries during his 210-run knock. Only two batters have scored more in boundaries in an ODI innings – 186 by Rohit against Sri Lanka in 2014 and 162 by Martin Guptill against West Indies in 2015.The 290-run stand between Ishan Kishan and Virat Kohli also made it to the record books•Associated Press103 – Balls Kishan needed to reach the 150-run mark – the fastest individual 150 by an Indian in men’s ODIs. Sehwag held the record for bringing up his 150 in 112 balls against West Indies in 2011.290 – Partnership runs for the second wicket between Kishan and Kohli, the highest for any wicket in ODIs against Bangladesh. The previous best was the unbeaten 282-run opening stand between Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock in 2017.68.6 – Percentage of runs scored by Kishan during the 290-run stand with Kohli, the highest contribution by a single batter in a 200-plus runs partnership in men’s ODIs (where data is available). The previous highest was 65.6% by Tom Latham, who scored 145 out of 221 with Kane Williamson against India last month. The Kishan-Kohli stand is also the second-fastest 200-plus stand by run rate in men’s ODIs.409 for 8 – India’s total in Chattogram, is now the first 400-plus ODI total against Bangladesh and the first by any team in Bangladesh. The previous highest against Bangladesh was 391 for 4 by England in 2019, while India’s 370 for 4 in 2011 was the previous highest in Bangladesh.

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

Alagappan Muthu11-Apr-20232:50

Tait: Warner seemed ‘pretty frustrated’

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

“I was 27 and I was done. Now as a 28-year-old, I’ve got my whole career ahead of me”

Firdose Moonda27-Feb-2023″I am going to wear this, I am going to go to bed with it, I am going to shower with it, because this wasn’t even possible for me. This is probably my gold…. for now.”Four months before holding up her silver medal at the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup, Sinalo Jafta checked herself into rehab for alcohol abuse, with the intention of retiring from cricket.”I was walking away from cricket. The 7th of October (2022) is when I made the decision I was going to go into treatment. I was done. I felt like I had nothing to give,” she told reporters through her tears after South Africa lost their first World Cup final to Australia.”I remember coming back from the Comm (Commonwealth) Games, and everything just broke. I lost who I was,” Jafta said. “I went to rehab and now to play the final four months afterwards, it’s pretty emotional.”

“Social media doesn’t support you. You have a really tough day and people just bullet you on social media. That sent me over the edge. It just wouldn’t stop”Sinalo Jafta

Jafta cited online abuse for affecting her mental health, which in turn led to her drinking excessively. As a wicketkeeper, who bats mostly at No.8, Jafta has been taunted about everything from her performance to her body weight and her race. Eventually, it all became a bit too much for her to handle.”Social media doesn’t support you. You have a really tough day and people just bullet you on social media. That sent me over the edge. It just wouldn’t stop,” she said. ” The team doctor and the management gave me two months of medical leave. I spent 56 days in treatment and I learnt the best about myself. They (online bullies) are irrelevant. People are allowed to have their opinions but it doesn’t define who I am. I am forever grateful for that.”Sinalo Jafta celebrates the wicket of Grace Harris•ICC/Getty ImagesOn December 8, 2022, Jafta was discharged from rehab, ready for a new start. A month later she was playing for South Africa in their tri-series between West Indies and India and in line to play the 2023 T20 World Cup at home. Her love for cricket had not changed, but her perspective had.”The one thing I learnt in the time off is that it was always a behaviour thing. I must be the same person on the field as I am off the field,” Jafta said “Always humble, always for Him. I’ve just got God to thank for my sobriety at the end of the day and the team have been so supportive during this phase. I came out on the 8th of December and for me to get fit and now to play … hectic. That’s all I can say. Thank you to management and my team-mates.”Related

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There’s also someone else Jafta wanted to mention – her mother. A single parent, who brought Jafta and her brother up on a teacher’s salary, Lumka Jafta not only pulled her daughter through the toughest period in her life, but remains her No.1 fan. “My mom came to her first ever international game against Sri Lanka. She is a cricket fan now. She knows nothing about cricket but she knows how to cover drive, apparently!” Jafta said.”For them to just watch and going to my village, people are going to want to start playing cricket now. There’s not many resources where I come from.”In that, she is not alone. Most of the current South Africa team are from humble, or even deprived, backgrounds and came together to deliver the country’s best white-ball result in their history. They inspired a nation like never before, with a sell-out crowd at all three grounds they played at. “I am so proud. The girls showcased what unity does,” Jafta said. “This loss is not a failure for me. It’s always a lesson. And there’s so many other cricket games to go and if we as a team keep improving, there’s so much to come.”Jafta has called on CSA to invest more in the women’s game•ICC/Getty ImagesLike her captain Sune Luus and opening batter Laura Wolvaardt, Jafta called on Cricket South Africa (CSA) to invest in the women’s game in order for it to realise its full potential. “CSA has got a lot of work to do. We played in the final which is a big positive. We might not be where Australia is, but we could do that with less resources but so much potential,” Jafta said. “CSA is most probably in the happiest of places because if you can do this, imagine what you can do in the next three years if you actually invest in women’s cricket in the country.”As for Jafta – the person who was ready to quit four months ago is now just getting started, with a silver medal that is as precious as gold and a desire to get her hands on the real deal soon.”I was 27 and I was done. Now as a 28-year-old, I’ve got my whole career ahead of me and the fact is that I can say I have a career ahead of me,” she said. “Going into bat or keep, I just play fearlessly because what’s the worst that can happen? Lose a game? Cool, but that doesn’t define who I am. I am in the best phase of my life and I am grateful for it.”

Nidamanuru scores Netherlands’ fastest 100, van Beek cracks Super Over code

Sampath Bandarupalli26-Jun-20231 – The 374 by West Indies and Netherlands at the Takashinga Sports Club is the highest total for a tied ODI. The previous highest was 340 runs by New Zealand and England in Napier in 2008. This is also the highest total in List A cricket for a tied game, bettering the 343 by England Lions and India A in 2010.3 – Number of ODI totals while chasing that is higher than Netherlands’ 374 for 9 in Harare. Had Netherlands secured the win on the last ball of the chase, their effort would have led to the second-highest successful target chase in ODIs, only behind South Africa’s 435-run chase against Australia in 2006.Related

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374 for 9 – Netherlands’ total against West Indies is their highest in ODI cricket and the second highest by an Associate nation, behind Namibia’s 381 for 8 against Papua New Guinea in March this year. Scotland’s 371 for 5 against England in 2018 was the highest ODI total by an Associate against a Full Member before Netherlands’ effort on Monday.748 – Total runs scored by West Indies and Netherlands in Harare. It is the sixth-highest match aggregate in ODI cricket and by far the highest for an ODI hosted by Zimbabwe, surpassing the 659 runs between Sri Lanka and West Indies in Bulawayo in 2016.Teja Nidamanuru registered the fastest ton by a Netherlands batter•ICC via Getty Images30 – Runs scored by Logan van Beek in the Super Over. It is the most runs scored by a team in a Super Over in international cricket by a distance. The previous highest was 25 runs by West Indies against New Zealand in a men’s T20I in 2008, while West Indies women also scored 25 runs in the Super Over in an ODI against South Africa last year.2 – ODI hundreds for Netherlands since 2015, both by Teja Nidamanuru in 2023. His maiden ODI hundred came against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club earlier this March. He is only the second batter with multiple ODI hundreds for Netherlands, after Ryan ten Doeschate (5). Nidamanuru’s 67-ball hundred against West Indies is the fastest of the 12 ODI hundreds for Netherlands.63 – Number of balls Nicholas Pooran needed to complete his century. It is the third-fastest century for West Indies in men’s ODIs, behind Brian Lara’s 45-ball ton against Bangladesh in 1999 and Chris Gayle’s hundred off 55 balls against England in 2019.

Williamson, Boult and Southee were there in 2015 and in 2019 but may not make it to 2027

Alagappan Muthu29-Sep-20232:47

Can New Zealand make it to their third straight ODI World Cup final?

World Cup pedigree
New Zealand have made it to the semi-final stage of every ODI World Cup since 2007. They produced, along with England, perhaps the greatest game of 50-overs cricket ever at the 2019 final and, since that heartbreak, have gone on to win an ICC World Test Championship and make it to the final four of the T20 World Cup in 2021 and 2022. Whatever they’ve got in the water over there may be the key to unlocking human potential and preventing the robot apocalypse.Recent form
New Zealand landed in India having beaten Bangladesh 2-1 at their Mirpur fortress in conditions that shouldn’t be too dissimilar to what they will see in the World Cup. The only problem is that was a very different squad to the one that will line up against England on October 5. Limited access to their best players has certainly been a factor in them winning just eight out of 20 ODIs in 2023. Their two most recognisable talents – Kane Williamson (3) and Trent Boult (5) – played less than half of those matches.Related

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Selection
There’s a whole lot of experience in their 15. New Zealand have set so much store on it that they are happy to carry not one but two players who are still figuring out if their very recently healed bodies can handle the rigour of a global tournament. The risk is understandable. Williamson is the team’s captain and the one the whole batting line-up revolves around and Tim Southee is necessary to round out a bowling unit that includes a left-arm quick, an express quick, a legspinner and three fingerspinners.Squad
Kane Williamson (capt), Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Will YoungKey player
So much of ODI cricket in the subcontinent is about top-order batters bedding all the way in and that is pretty much what Devon Conway does everywhere he goes. A left-handed hitter of spin whose off-side power game is on par, if not better than, his leg-side power game and who is managing a hundred roughly once every five innings? That’s bank right there.Devon Conway – the player to watch out for at the World Cup•Getty ImagesRising star
Glenn Phillips is must-see TV. Dude does things that end up outing even the most closeted cricket fan. *Cough* John Cena *Cough*. He sets up to bat like Steven Smith – yells of no-run included – but probably has more in common with Glenn Maxwell. Phillips’ ability to hit 360 degrees and utterly ransack runs from down the order was on brilliant display at the start of the year in Karachi, where he led New Zealand to their first ODI series victory in the subcontinent since 2008. He also bowls pretty some useful offbreaks, which New Zealand might rely heavily on over the coming weeks, and is phenomenal in the field. #TotalPackage #ManCrushWorld Cup farewells?
Well, 12 of the 15 are over 30, and one of the other three is 29, so there’s going to be a fair bit of this. A golden generation of New Zealand cricketers – Williamson, Southee, Boult – will likely be riding off into the sunset soon.

Amrit Mathur’s book offers rare behind-the-scenes glimpses at the highs and lows of three decades of the game through his time as journalist, administrator and team manager

Debayan Sen01-Sep-2023If you’ve ever wondered what pre-match routines Sachin Tendulkar or Sourav Ganguly typically went through, or how chaotic the initial years of the IPL were, or how cannily the best cricket administrators work out the arithmetic during BCCI elections, you will get a lot of insights in Amrit Mathur’s Pitchside: My Life in Indian Cricket. Mathur is the ultimate Indian cricket insider, having spent time in the system as administrator, journalist, manager on several historic tours, as a member of organising committees in World Cups, and advisor to IPL teams. He has also held several posts in the BCCI.By his own admission, he was fortunate to be handpicked – “I think of myself as a concussion sub, someone not supposed to play but unexpectedly pushed into the middle” – first by erstwhile BCCI president Madhavrao Scindia, and then several others, as a young bureaucrat with Indian Railways.The good thing about Pitchside is that Mathur stays true to the title and presents us with an objective view of what he saw and heard. There are great anecdotes from some historic India campaigns that fans will lap up – the tour of South Africa in 1992, the 2003 World Cup, the 2004 tour to Pakistan (including the political ambivalence right up until Sourav Ganguly’s team set off, with then board president Jagmohan Dalmiya standing up to an unnamed senior minister and refusing to pull the plug on the tour on the government’s behalf), and also from his time with Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) in the IPL.In Mathur’s telling of his early days in the game, of his all-star St Stephen’s College team-mates (Arun Lal, Piyush Pandey, Rajinder Amarnath, Ramchandra Guha) and Delhi University colleagues (Kirti Azad, Sunil Valson, Randhir Singh), I found parallels in my own life. When I went to the same college two decades later, any inter-departmental cricket game pitted you against Ranji Trophy players from Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab. Hindu College, rivals from across the road, acquired the services of Gautam Gambhir during my final year there.This star cast also makes routine appearances in his stories. The writing style is informal, with the private thoughts of titans of the sport, gleaned in conversation, appearing as bullet points at the end of several sections. The descriptions of the 2002 tour of England, capped by the NatWest Trophy win, and a stirring fightback in the Test series, give a fine picture of how the meticulous John Wright and the erratic Ganguly forged a coach-captain combination that had its share of highs and lows.Westland BooksI did, however, have two minor quibbles with the book. First, Mathur had a ringside view of two of Indian cricket’s greatest match-fixing scandals. He steers clear of the whole subject, which feels a bit like shortchanging the reader. Given his deep roots within Indian cricket, he may not have felt comfortable revealing ugly secrets about players and officials he has admired. There is also the possibility that he may not have known enough to talk with any authority.He also provides detailed pen sketches of various characters in Indian cricket right at the end. Interestingly, second mentions of characters are first names for various players and functionaries – see Sachin, Sourav/Dada, Gavaskar, Lalit, Jaggu-da – but for others, he uses Mr Scindia and Mr Jaitley. This might be out of reverence for the deceased, but it confirms that in Indian cricket the politician has an unjustified pride of place that the best players cannot quite aspire to yet, even in the words of one of the most honest and upright servants of the sport.

Belief in the brand remains strong despite ego-bruising defeat to arch-rivals Australia

Vithushan Ehantharajah21-Jun-2023″Losing sucks.” To some England fans, it might be a relief to hear that. A day before this first Test at Edgbaston, Ben Stokes stated it would not be “the end of the world” if the hosts left Edgbaston one-down. This was not “a results-driven team”, even though they had won 11 out of the previous 13. Even an Ashes series would not change any of that.Now trailing Australia 1-0, there remains plenty of truth to that. Four more Tests and enough from this loss, along with what has been banked over the previous 12 months, can be enough to overturn that scoreline.But as the England captain sat in his post-match press conference, physically and emotionally drained by the events of a compelling final day, it was clear this was a tough result to swallow. Even with a Kool-Aid mixer, a two-wicket defeat to your arch-rivals tastes just as bitter. It, as Stokes said, sucks.Related

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“I know everyone who came out and supported us, bought a ticket this week, would have loved to see us win,” Stokes added. “Everyone who was watching on TV would have loved to see us win.”We’re desperately upset for them that they didn’t manage to see England get over the line. If people haven’t been on the edge of their seat for this entire Test match, or any situation the game found itself in particular the last hour, I’m not quite sure what will in cricket.”Dismay at defeat and appreciating the thrill of the spectacle are not mutually exclusive. But the manner in which England contributed to the latter directly influenced the former. This match went back and forth, as all the best Tests do, though until the final stand between Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, Australia only had the initiative when England handed it over. Mostly in instalments.An England side that likes to dangle the carrot ended up presenting the patch. Day one’s declaration on 393 for 8 when a modern great in Joe Root is seeing it big on 118 with a capable Ollie Robinson at the other end. The drops of Alex Carey and missed catch when Usman Khawaja had just four – all through to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow – cost 100 runs across both innings. The missed stumping of Cameron Green when on nought allowed him to reach 38 on day two. The 23 no-balls were slack, with one allowing Khawaja to bolster a century from 112 to 141.Jonny Bairstow misses a stumping off Cameron Green•Getty ImagesWas Bazball the problem? Well, no.”Not putting the result at the top of everything that we think about actually really helps us go out and play free-spirited cricket,” corrected Stokes when asked why this hurt as much as it did.Not since 2015 has England met Australia’s eye line and forced them to blink with defensive fields and a slower pace of play. With talk dominated by how 2005’s meeting on this ground played out with a two-run victory the other way, the temptation with hindsight is to peg this instead as the meeting of that series at Lord’s. An Australian win with plenty of English encouragement.The main takeaways for the time being will be around better execution of the brand. A declaration that may already be consigned to infamy could have been regarded as a tactical masterstroke had the four overs on Friday night reaped any reward. At the time, and definitely so now, it looks like an unnecessary risk.When set on a turgid pitch, Root and Harry Brook were right to attack Lyon in the second innings. But there were better options than charging a delivery that was too short and cross-batting one too full.Bairstow’s run-a-ball 78 in the first innings vindicated the part of his selection that would always be vindicated. Yet he ultimately finished in arrears because of the errors behind the stumps. The calculation of his selection as the keeper-batter ahead of Ben Foakes was sound. Alas, the variables proved too volatile.Moeen Ali’s recall out of retirement was exactly as he and history told you it would be: three pearlers – two accounting for number-three ranked batter Travis Head – amid full tosses, long hops and, at the end of it all, a reopened wound on his right index finger. The low floor of the spinning allrounder is well-known, but his ceiling as a red ball off-spinner is apparently lower than ever.Moeen Ali suffered a blister on the index finger of his right hand•Visionhaus/Getty ImagesPerhaps most galling was limiting Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith to 35 runs across the match and still finishing second. All the plans, all the effort, and intricacies involved in reducing two of the leading Test batters in the world to bit parts, seemingly for nothing. It was a microcosm of the game. England set up the chess board, enacted various openings and took key pieces, only for Australia to beat them with checkers.There have only been three defeats under head coach Brendon McCullum out of 14 Tests, but at this juncture, it’s worth considering the nourishing qualities they’ve had on the victors. A by-product of this sliding-doors cricket has seen England act as matchmaker for others to have their own dates with destiny.South Africa lived it up at Lord’s last summer, replicating the celebrations after their first success there in 1994 by draping their country’s flag over the away dressing room balcony. Blackcaps wicketkeeper Tom Blundell had the honour of organising the now traditional limo for the bowlers up Mount Victoria to watch the sunrise after victory in Wellington. The customary champagne and cigars will have tasted better after a hellacious one-run win.Cummins now ranks this match at number one as his best-ever Test, a week after winning the World Test Championship Final no less. And as his squad lauded it up in the changing rooms as they did in 2019, with the odd player drifting onto the deserted outfield to call loved ones just waking up to the news back home, an already confident touring party will strut into the remainder of the series a little taller.How this all plays out in the court of public opinion will be another matter. A home Ashes audience is as public as you can get, and as much as cricket is glad for the eyes, it is an inconvenience for believers how easily digestible the match-losing moments were.The home dressing room, however, remains a haven of ideology. There were no nerves to speak of in the morning. The rains that delayed the start until 2:15pm allowed England to arrive at the ground at a more leisurely 9:50am. They killed time with card games, crosswords and even the odd nap. No anxiety around the seven wickets required against Australia’s need for 174 more runs. Just anticipation of another great day to come.Well after the 7:20pm finish, as they sat in the dressing room, overhearing Australia’s jubilation, belief in the process is said to remain strong, even if egos and spirits have been bruised. They have the next five days off to compute the loss before reconvening in London for the second Test next week. The message from Stokes was clear – this still works, even in defeat.”The conversation in the dressing room there at the end, even some of our support staff, their kids want England shirts now,” said Stokes. “I had a message from my neighbour saying his son was playing cricket on the weekend and he did what England would do in his situation.”But don’t get me wrong in what I’ve said there. Losing sucks. We always want to win.”Now trailing 1-0, they have to.

The seamer picked up 4 for 53 to help India bowl the visitors out for just 219 on the opening day

S Sudarshanan21-Dec-2023First women’s Test at the Wankhede Stadium in close to 40 years. Tenth ball. An early message from India.Ellyse Perry’s faded helmet gives away her longevity in the sport, and how much she loves scoring runs. She gets off the mark with a thick outside edge through the cordon. Surely it is her day? Sun shining, ball seaming – nothing she has not countered in her 11 Tests spanning a 16-year international career.Pooja Vastrakar has other plans, though. She runs in hard, gets a good-length ball at 109.1kph to nip back in to make a mess of Perry’s stumps. Gone for 4, the lowest Test score Perry has been dismissed for. Memories of what Vastrakar did to Nat Sciver-Brunt last week come rushing back.Related

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Notwithstanding a 56-ball 50 from Tahlia McGrath, Australia were bowled out for 219 on the first day after opting to bat. Was it a fast bowlers’ paradise? Were the conditions “extreme” like in Navi Mumbai?Just as tea was called, with Australia 180 for 8, Alyssa Healy – with her floppy hat on – wandered towards the pitch with Ashleigh Gardner. Healy was done in by a Deepti Sharma ball that kept low, while Gardner couldn’t resist poking at a wobble-seam length ball from Vastrakar and was caught behind. They looked at the pitch while the ground staff swept the loose soil away and re-marked the batting and bowling crease.McGrath and Beth Mooney had scored most of their 80 partnership runs at a fair clip before slowing down after spin was introduced. Healy and Annabel Sutherland, who added 40 for the fifth wicket, were countering spin easily before Healy’s fall allowed Vastrakar to dismiss Sutherland and Gardner in succession.”Early on, I found the wicket quite nice to play on but then as soon as spin came on, it became quite tricky,” McGrath said later. “I felt reasonably comfortable with pace but as soon as spin came on, it was a big challenge. Partly because we are not used to these conditions; it was shooting low, and the spinners were extremely disciplined.”Sneh Rana, in particular, bowled really well. I struggled a lot with her, but Moons [Mooney] looked slightly more comfortable against her. I constantly felt on edge against Sneh today. She got me in the end, which was a little bit of a poor dismissal on my part.”Pooja Vastrakar was the star of the Indian bowlers on the first day•BCCIWhile Australia may have been spooked by spin – Rana and Deepti picked up five wickets combined – the real damage was done by Vastrakar. She hurried the batters with her pace and always kept the stumps in play. Which is why India didn’t panic when McGrath and Healy were stitching together those partnerships. Vastrakar kept bowling at speeds north of 105kph and got enough lift from a surface that offered uneven bounce. Like when she got a 113.3kph short ball to spit at Mooney, who gloved it to first slip.”Vastrakar bowled extremely well,” McGrath conceded. “The ball she got Pez [Perry] with was an absolute peach. When I was walking out to bat, she was getting sideways movement of the seam both ways, and she just bowls a relentless length that keeps you on your toes and is perfect for Test match cricket.”She was someone we specifically spoke about as a batting unit. Like I said, the length she bowls is perfect for Test cricket. It’s just relentless. And she’s almost robotic. She just runs in and hits the spot time after time and puts so much pressure on the batters. So, for us, it was about capitalising whenever she gave us any width… we had to put it away.”During the domestic T20s, the Indian bowlers were given a task: to clock at least 24 overs in the nets in the first week and 32 in the next. They had to log it and send the data to the bowling coach and the trainers at the National Cricket Academy. It meant they were well-prepared by the time they got to the camp in Bengaluru ahead of the England series.”I bowl outswing naturally, but we saw the videos of both teams [England and Australia] and found that their batters face difficulty with the incoming ball,” Vastrakar, who finished with 4 for 53, said of India’s bowling plans. “Our aim during practice was to bring the ball in with the wobble seam, which makes the ball cut in and makes it tough for the batters.”We saw the pitch during practice and felt it won’t be as easy [for bowlers] as it was at the DY Patil Stadium. Here, we needed to work harder. We had to hit the hard lengths and bowl wicket-to-wicket, set the batters up and get the ball in. I did that and bowled a sharp inswinger to Perry and she got out.”Australia’s last two wickets kept India on the field for over 22 overs. It did not dampen the hosts’ spirit as the openers came out all guns blazing to drive home the advantage by the end of the first day.After stumps, head coach Amol Muzumdar sauntered down from the stairs and walked to the centre. He stood at the striker’s end from the press box end and had a look. No person in either camp knows the conditions at the Wankhede better than Muzumdar. What he thought of the 22 yards was anybody’s guess. But in the two Tests so far during his tenure, India’s message has been loud and clear: underestimate them at your own peril.