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“It probably makes you concentrate more,” explains England’s record-breaker after comedy mix-up with captain

Vithushan Ehantharajah18-Dec-2022It takes a bolshy, self-assured, unique soul to run out your captain.There’s a point when you realise it’s happening and you wonder what the right decision is, moments after you’ve made the catastrophic wrong one. The latter, in this instance, was a hesitation from Harry Brook bringing him to a standstill that proved terminal for Ben Stokes, who was charging to his end for a comfortable third.Your options at that point are pretty clear. Sacrifice yourself for the leader? Maybe, and in this case that would have meant Brook setting off to the non-striker’s end in vain. And heck, as much as people like to pretend, this isn’t war. It’s only a game, arguably both the silliest and most selfish of them all. Brook was on 42, Stokes 26 – and only one of them in the midst of a historical purple patch. Brook decided his best bet for his own safety was to retreat back to the end he’d tentatively left, touching his bat in fractionally before Stokes got there.There was none of the animosity the situation would usually elicit – not that you would expect there to be with this group. This is as free-spirited an England team there has been, liberated from the conservative shackles of English Test cricket long before they arrived in Karachi with an unassailable 2-0 lead.Harry Brook and Ben Stokes were stranded at the same end after a mix-up•Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesOn Friday, England’s preparations for the third Test concluded with a six-hitting competition between the northerners and southerners within the squad (won by the northerners), followed by a one-on-one competition between Stokes and Brendon McCullum. Stokes lost, meaning he had to serve dinner to the best-on-show for the winners – which was Brook. Here they were, two days later, Brook returning the favour by barbecuing his skipper. “I’ll have to serve him dinner tonight,” Brook reflected, with a grin. “And tuck his little towel [napkin] in.”Brook offered a hand up in apology. Stokes immediately reciprocated with a thumbs-up. The next time their paths crossed at tea, Brook had 108 not out, on his way to an eventual 111 that provided the backbone for England’s first innings of 354.”It was probably my fault to be honest,” Brook said, hands up in the press conference. “I’ll take the blame. There probably was three there. I was slightly lazy with my running. I was a bit tired to be honest.” Understandably so, given the 23-year-old’s output this last month, off the back of England’s successful T20 World Cup campaign and a stellar T20I series on these shores before that.Related

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Brook makes hay on the inside track as he takes to Pakistan like a veteran

One of the many things you can say about Brook, with great confidence, is the Yorkshire batter just seems to belong. He’s in the team for good, even once Jonny Bairstow returns. He’s in the conversation as one of the best young multi-format batters going. He’s worthy of mention among the sport’s legendary names, many from the days of yore.A third century in as many Tests on this tour has him alongside the likes of George Headley, Arthur Morris, Conrad Hunt and Sunil Gavaskar as players with three or more in their first four caps. Only Mohammad Azharuddin has managed as many in fewer than Brook’s six innings.He is also now England’s leading run-scorer in an overseas Test series against Pakistan, with 468 runs a ludicrous average of 93.60 and an even more ludicrous strike rate of 93.41. A crisp brace through the covers took him to 93 and and ahead of Alastair Cook’s tally of 450 during the 2015-16 series in the UAE.ESPNcricinfo LtdMore historical, perhaps, was the first of those two runs, which moved him to a record English tally in Pakistan, passing David Gower’s 449 in 1983-84. Which is funny because, just last year, Brook’s grandma made a move on Gower when she was collecting the Cricket Writers’ Club young cricketer of the year award on his behalf. Evidently, seizing your moment on a big stage is a family trait.Even if the series is England’s, you could argue the centuries have been of escalating importance, certainly within the sole context of the matches themselves. The first – off 80 deliveries – was England’s fourth (and fastest) on day one of the series, as the tourists closed on 506 for 4 in 75 overs. His most productive knock was arguably his 87 from 65 in the second innings which allowed England to declare with a lead of 342 at tea on day four, before going on to secure the win with just 10 minutes of light to spare on the final day.Number two in Brook’s charts was the only century of the Multan Test, pushing England to 275 in their second innings to ensure Pakistan had to chase 355. They needed almost all of those runs, eventually coming through by 26. From a personal point of view, it was also the product of some necessary recalibration, after failing as one of Abrar Ahmed’s seven victims earlier in the match: skying to mid-off having played from his crease, which he recognised afterwards is not something he usually does.He carried that experience into his second innings on Sunday, with Abrar on the receiving end of all three of Brook’s sixes, all down the ground over the bowler’s head, whom he took for 63 from 65 deliveries overall. Without Brook’s calm, England’s recovery from 58 for 3 and 98 for 4 would have been a lot trickier, and even parity with Pakistan’s 304 might have been a long way off. In the end, with the help of Ben Foakes – with whom he shared a stand of 117 – and some contributions from the tail, a lead of 50 was established. Pakistan resume on Monday on 21 without loss.Just as with the previous two hundreds, Brook’s celebration when his 133rd ball was struck off the back foot through the covers – off Abrar – was devoid of any emotion bar satisfaction. Even the remorse of running out a team-mate on his way to a century – as happened with Ollie Pope in the previous Test – was given a positive, tongue-in-cheek spin.ESPNcricinfo Ltd”It probably makes you concentrate a little bit more actually, when you’ve been involved in a run-out,” he began. “But obviously I was involved in Ollie Pope last week and I went on to get a hundred in that game. So maybe I should start something up.”Evidently, the confidence Brook is exuding is nothing new. He revealed that, prior to coming on tour, he predicted a decent run: “I actually said to one of my mates before I came out here that I would love to get two hundreds out here, so obviously to go one better is a very nice feeling.”He went on to revel in the fact he has given those above him a problem to consider, given Bairstow’s forthcoming return following a golf accident that opened the door for Brook. “Most selectors say they like headaches, so hopefully I’ve caused a very big migraine.”Bairstow’s return to competitive action is unlikely to come until the start of the Indian Premier League, meaning he is expected to miss the two Tests out in New Zealand; Brook believes his Yorkshire team-mate will come straight back into the side when he is available, and he is almost certainly right.As for where that might be, Brook says that is for other people to decide. But really, he has probably made their minds up for them.

A repeat of chaotic glory like in 1992 and 2017, or a well-oiled team falling short like in 1999 and 2011?

Osman Samiuddin05-Oct-20232:59

Middle order and spin department a concern for Pakistan

Which one is it going to be?Each day that we get closer to the start of any global ICC event, it feels like the most relevant question to ask of Pakistan. Sure, it’s a slightly flippant way to look at it, a little ludicrous even, because this is not how you assess the chances of a team at a world event. Not in this day and age anyway. It’s always the fiddly things you look at, the SWOT analysis – the depth and composition of a squad, recent form, experience, all the stuff that actually wins and loses matches.And of course, all of it is terribly important, and we will get to it. But I know I want to put this out there and I’m pretty sure you do as well, so let’s just get it out of the way.Which one is this going to be?Related

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Which legendary and/or infamous previous Pakistan campaign will this World Cup play out like the most? Are we in for the despair and elation vortex of ’92, ’09 and ’17, with title surges forged from total dirges? The arrival of an unheralded kid, fast bowlers fast bowling, stars starring, Pakistan Pakistaning?Or should we prepare for the unnervingly smooth(ish) ride but knockout traumas of ’99, ’07 (the T20 World Cup obviously, because why would you even want to invoke the other global tournament that year?) and ’11? Pakistan being slightly unPakistan, playing to plans and patterns, maximising skill and talent and OMG they’re going to win this like peak Australia and… oh this feels like South Africa trauma.On the surface, this side doesn’t seem given to the swings and roundabouts of the first type of campaign, or perhaps that’s because of the temptation to see them in the image of their leader. This is Babar Azam’s time and it is Babar Azam’s team and Babar Azam is an unflinchingly equable man, in personality and in performance. History is yet to record an unequable public utterance from his mouth, just as it is yet to record (at least since he broke through in Tests back in 2018) a sustained, unequable run of form. His sides have been ranked No. 1 in ODIs, they have made the semi-finals and the final of the last two T20 World Cups. This side, with a settled core, does consistency, and evenness of performance.Which would leave the second kind of campaign (the 2021 T20 World Cup for example), except… except that at the last ODI World Cup they did the nearly-92, marginally mistiming their surge and little bits of the universe not playing ball in conspiring to get them through to the last four. Six members of that squad are here. Last year, at the T20 World Cup, they did a hybrid version (and you thought you’d heard the last of that word for a while), where a 1992-esque run ended in a final trauma. And remember four members of this squad were part of the 2017 Champions Trophy win, the most ’92 tournament win they have had outside of 1992.But the team is in a weird place right now, and it’s impossible to predict which way they might go. Until less than a month ago, just before the second game against India in the Asia Cup, they looked a proper threat for this World Cup. They had as good a pace attack as any, a top-heavy but successful batting order, six matchwinners, and a fielding unit about which nothing much needed to be said – because it was perfectly efficient.2:52

Shastri and Harbhajan predict their World Cup semi-finalists

Since that game, though – and how much that reserve day their board fought for has cost them – it feels like a different side, a little less sure of itself, a little more in flux. Those little fiddly details, a key player not firing, another one missing, holes that still need plugging elsewhere, are all looming slightly larger now and more urgently, a day out from the start of their campaign.Forget which one this will be and maybe start panicking that it may be neither?Well not just yet because it is worth putting some of the details into perspective. Fakhar Zaman’s loss of form, for instance, is not, strictly speaking, a loss of form. For a start, as recently as April he hit three hundreds in consecutive ODIs. Since then, in ten innings, he is averaging 19 but he’s only been out in single figures twice; he has five scores between 20 and 33. A plummeting strike rate during that run suggests doubt has crept in, but the sense remains that if he can get himself to some kind of a landmark, say a scratchy, lukewarm 50, there could be riches on the other side.In any case, Pakistan will need to show faith because he is the wildcard in what is a pretty straight-laced if high-functioning top order. It’s not rocket science: Fakhar’s the man who turns 280-300 into 330-350. Pakistan have scored 330-plus 12 times in ODIs since Fakhar’s debut in 2017. He’s hit four hundreds and three fifties in those games, averaging 92.30 with a strike rate of 114.80.On the other hand, putting Shadab Khan’s recent form into perspective is not going to lessen that panic. Not least because over the last couple of years, he has been the absolute barometer of Pakistan’s white-ball teams. If he is having a good day in the field, Pakistan soar. A bad one, as at the Asia Cup, and Pakistan flounder. He bowled as poorly in that tournament as he has at any stage in his career, but even if it is unlikely he will be that poor again, the most striking impression was that his bowling has perhaps not evolved in the 50-over format in the same way it has in T20s.In large part, put that down to cricket’s wonky scheduling in these pandemic years. If Shadab has not grown, it could be because he’s barely played any ODI cricket: only 23 matches since the last World Cup. Tom Latham has played 17 this year alone. Shadab himself played nearly twice as many ODIs in the first bit of his career, two years from his debut to the 2019 World Cup. But after that World Cup he’s played nearly six times as many T20s.Has Fakhar Zaman really lost his form?•Associated PressThe conundrum for Pakistan is that he is, by default, their lead spinner without being the kind of specialist, wicket-taking spinner – at least not yet – that almost every other successful side possesses. He’d make for a great second spinner except Pakistan have rarely played a specialist spinner alongside him. Usama Mir, who is in the squad, is the only one since the last World Cup and he’s only played three ODIs alongside Shadab. All of which is why Abrar Ahmed could have been a big, but very tantalising, punt.The steadier uptick in Shadab’s batting is why he should play though. He’s gotten relatively more opportunities to bat since the last World Cup and though his average has only inched up (25.92 to 26.46) the strike rate has bolted (68.63 to 102.84). Plus, he makes it to the side for his fielding alone.For the loss of Naseem Shah, it’s difficult to keep any perspective. It is a deep wound for Pakistan, made deeper still by persistent muttering that it was preventable, that he had been complaining of shoulder pain and in need of rest. Shaheen Shah Afridi is the bigger star but, across an entire innings and across formats, Naseem has been the bigger bowler this year. Mohammad Wasim and Hasan Ali are capable, and their good days can be electric, but hope currently outweighs expectation with both.Anyway, the optimist will see the signs they want to see from this. Waqar Younis on the eve of the you-know-which World Cup. Poor warm-up games back then as well. A little bit of disarray on the field. Plenty off it back at Gaddafi Stadium. Two new balls, the same format as that World Cup (with one extra team), you know this drill.And it’s ok to admit this is the campaign we’re all rooting for, even if it means there will be pain before the possibility of joy. Even if it feels churlish, at this stage, to point out that with the cakes that keep on coming and all that Hyderabadi biryani, it’s clearly not Ramadan. Which, IYKYK.

A ruptured Achilles tendon can take nine months to heal, but the SA spinner was back on the park in less than six, thanks to cutting-edge medical science and steely resolve

Firdose Moonda14-Sep-2023When you will see Keshav Maharaj in action at the upcoming ODI World Cup starting in three weeks, look closely and you might notice a slight limp on his left side caused by the barest of external rotations. But that is the only clue that just over six months ago, he suffered a complete rupture of his Achilles’ tendon, an injury that typically keeps athletes off the park for between nine months and a year, and which was almost certain to prevent him from playing in the tournament.Thanks to a combination of improved medical science and a militant approach to rest and rehabilitation, Maharaj has fashioned the unlikeliest of comebacks, and doesn’t mind that he has the proverbial scar to show for it.”I will have a limp for some time, but it’s all about teaching yourself how to do certain things again,” Maharaj said ahead of South Africa’s fourth ODI against Australia in Centurion. “It was about putting my head down and giving myself a chance. It’s about giving yourself a chance to get back to where you feel you belong.”Related

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So how exactly did he do it?Maharaj underwent surgery six days after sustaining the injury in seemingly innocuous fashion. He took off in celebration after dismissing Kyle Mayers in a Test against West Indies in Johannesburg, and then crashed to the floor with an expression that we thought revealed extreme pain. But for most people, a complete rupture can look worse than it feels.”Athletes I’ve worked with often say that they felt like someone had thrown a stone that hit the back of their leg, or maybe just accidentally kicked them,” Dr Shuaib Manjra, Cricket South Africa’s head of medical, told ESPNcricinfo. “But what you will see is that they lose power in the leg immediately.”That’s why when Dean Elgar rushed to Maharaj’s side and lifted his foot off the ground, it appeared almost limp in his hand. That alone suggested the injury was serious.”It was traumatic to watch,” Athmanand Maharaj, Keshav’s father, said. “And Keshav was a bit down when he found out later that he would be out for a while, and that he needed an operation.”Keshav Maharaj ruptured his Achilles tendon while celebrating a wicket against West Indies in March•AFP/Getty ImagesWith good reason. At that stage, Maharaj was South Africa’s first-choice white-ball spinner, and was looking forward to helping them qualify for the World Cup. He was ruled out of a stint with Middlesex for the County Championship and the T20 Blast; and with leagues popping up in the USA and Canada may have even fancied an extra gig.But all those plans came to an abrupt halt as Maharaj’s only choice was going under the knife. For that, he opted for his hometown of Durban, where leading orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Kevin MacIntyre is based. MacIntyre’s practice is based on minimally invasive surgeries, and for Achilles’ ruptures he has been using a method pioneered in 2018 called percutaneous repair. This involves making several small cuts to access the damaged tissue instead of only a single large one. This facilitates quicker healing and leads to fewer wound complications.”With the old method, we had to go right through the tendon sheath, and so healing would take a long time,” Manjra said.Despite the advancement in the procedure and MacIntyre’s expertise in the field, CSA did not quite agree when he predicted Maharaj would take five months to recover.”We were much more circumspect, and were working on around six to seven months,” Manjra said. “We knew that psychologically, it’s difficult for any player. With a World Cup looming, you think, ‘Will I make it?’ And also, ‘Is it the end of my career?’ And being immobile is terrible for anybody – but especially for someone like Keshav, who is very active. We were cautious.””I sacrificed a hell of a lot – from a diet, a rehab and a recovery point of view” – Keshav Maharaj•BCCIPerhaps they did not realise the strength of Maharaj’s resolve. Although, as Athmanand recalled, Maharaj would occasionally “get a little ratty because he loves to be on the field and he could see all his friends there”, he also pulled out all the stops to get better.Having previously changed his diet to lose weight and improve his fitness in order to be selected for his provincial side, Maharaj consulted a nutritionist again – this time to understand if food could help his recovery, and he admitted to being fastidious about it.”I sacrificed a hell of a lot in that time – from a diet, a rehab and a recovery point of view,” Maharaj said. “I was making sure I was getting eight to ten hours of sleep every night; and I put my family under pressure because in terms of diet, I had to make sure I ate certain things. And I had to make sure I ate on time, and things like that.”There was no miracle diet, but Maharaj’s focus on eating was to ensure he could build and maintain muscle in difficult circumstances.”Because Keshav is vegetarian, we had to make sure he was increasing his protein intake, as proteins are the building blocks of muscle,” Manjra said. “There were some modifications to his diet to make sure he got adequate nutrition.”Maharaj also did not stop training. Even while still wearing a moonboot, Maharaj concentrated on upper-body strength and core work, and then began to use an anti-gravity treadmill at the rugby academy. The machine was developed in the 1990s by biomechanics researchers at NASA, who wanted to help astronauts working at the International Space Station, and who were at risk of losing bone density and muscle mass.’At five months, I started to believe once I started to run again. I realised the dream is reality’•Associated PressEssentially, it encloses the lower part of the body in an airtight chamber, which allows an athlete like Maharaj to train his legs without bearing weight, and slowly increase the weight-bearing as they become more able.Maharaj was given a weekly training program, and had to submit regular reports. Athmanand recalls the medical staff being “stunned” by his son exceeding his goals on each occasion. That’s when Maharaj himself knew he was healing.”When you see how slow the initial phases of rehab are, you have a negative thought here and there. But at four months, when I started to walk in the moonboot, then I pushed myself beyond certain levels that I don’t think most people would have been able to do,” Maharaj said. “At five months, I started to believe once I started to run again. I realised the dream is reality. Once I started bowling in that period, the belief never left me.”All the while, there was one golden opportunity which lay ahead, one which Maharaj did not want to pass up.”The World Cup was a big thing for me. I’ve played in two T20 World Cups, but 50 overs is very hard on the body,” he said. “That’s something I wanted to experience. I always like to challenge myself. I plotted the way. At three months, I probably wouldn’t have said I’d get here. But my medical team gave me the best chance.”And then seeing as I was very close to the World Cup, it meant everything to want to play. My forefathers are from India, so I want to go back there and try to do something special. That was the motivation I needed.”‘You want to be a role model. So for any guys with long-term injury, there is hope at the end of the tunnel’•Getty ImagesAthmanand, who has watched Maharaj play in India before, admitted that when he heard his son’s name mentioned at the World-Cup squad announcement, “it was so emotional”. Although he now finds himself in charge of the renovations for the house Maharaj bought during his period of injury, Athmanand doesn’t mind the extra work “because Keshav is going there to live out his dream”.Not just his. Maharaj recognises that the story of his successful recovery could encourage anyone who finds themselves on the sidelines.”As a professional cricketer, you want to be a role model,” Maharaj said. “So for any guys with long-term injury, there is hope at the end of the tunnel.”Already, South Africa’s ODI captain Temba Bavuma has hailed Maharaj as an inspiration and proof that hard work pays off. For those close to Maharaj, it’s not really a surprise that he went the extra mile. He is known to be one of the fittest members of the squad, one who runs the 2km time trial as quickly as in 6 minutes and 20 seconds – the standard is 8:30 – and who prides himself on his commitment to being the best he can be.”That’s Keshav – he left no stone unturned,” Athmanand said. “Nothing is a barrier for him. He is a warrior.”Fitting then that it was the tendon named after the great Greek hero that threatened to derail Keshav Maharaj’s career, but that he didn’t allow it to and became the champion of his own story.

He played his shots during his run-a-ball 48 as he looks to bounce back from a poor Test series in South Africa

S Sudarshanan12-Jan-2024The last time Shreyas Iyer played a first-class match for Mumbai, he was yet to play Test cricket, back in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy. The Iyer that walked out to bat in Mumbai’s latest Ranji Trophy match on Friday is a different person. He has played regularly in all three formats for India, and though he was left out of the T20I squad for the ongoing series against Afghanistan, he is the incumbent No. 5 in Tests.Which is why this game, against Andhra, is significant for Iyer.He had a tough tour of South Africa, where he scored 31, 6, 0 and 4 not out. The two Tests there were his first in over nine months, part of which he was out because of a back problem that required surgery. The match against Andhra gives him a chance to get into his groove ahead of the home Tests against England starting January 25.Related

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Mumbai were asked to bat on a greenish surface on a sunny morning. The openers added 69 in a steady start before Jay Bista and Ajinkya Rahane, the No. 3, fell off successive balls. Bhupen Lalwani, the other opener, and Suved Parkar, the No. 4, then took Mumbai to lunch, giving Iyer some more time.He walked to the nets just outside the playing area with batting coach Vinit Indulkar, left-arm spinner Atharva Ankolekar, and a throwdown specialist in tow. He started slowly, but raised the tempo as time went on, and finished his close-to-25-minute stint with aerial shots in all directions.When Iyer walked in with Mumbai 130 for 3 in the 43rd over, it did not take him time to get going. He is known to be a quick scorer in the domestic circuit, which his first-class strike rate of 78.48 attests to. He is also known to be an excellent player of spin. He put away two full deliveries from the quicks – a flick through midwicket and a loft over mid-on – to get his boundary count going.Andhra mixed it up against Iyer by bowling pace from the dressing-room end and spin from the media end. Medium pacers Penmetsa Raju first, and then his replacement Nithish Kumar Reddy – the most impressive Andhra bowler on the day – bowled from around the wicket to test him. But Iyer’s feet moved nicely, and he kept out the good length and full balls, with a push to the off side or a flick towards midwicket. He was also ready to take on the short ball and punish it, like he did off Raju to beat long leg to his right in the 56th over.Shreyas Iyer had a poor Test series in South Africa, scoring 31, 6, 0 and 4 not out•AFP/Getty ImagesBut nothing perhaps showed that Iyer was switched on and up for the fight like in the 54th over, bowled by Raju. With two fielders deep on the leg side – forward square-leg and long leg – and a backward short-leg in place, he played the perfect pull shot all along the ground for a four. The very next ball was shortish but had just enough width for Iyer to crash it over the covers.This prompted Andhra to go all-out on the mean bouncer – Iyer’s perceived weakness. They had a six-three leg-side field with midwicket, forward square-leg, backward square-leg, long leg, third and point all out on the boundary. There was also a forward short-leg under the lid. That would, however, not prevent Iyer from taking a third four off the over – another pull that sent the ball rolling past backward square-leg – perhaps his best shot of the day. In all, Iyer scored 25 in the 14 balls he faced from Raju, including five fours.Reddy went on to dismiss him caught behind, after he wafted at a fullish ball angling away from around the stumps. Iyer would trudge back with a run-a-ball 48 against his name. But in only his second domestic red-ball game since his Test debut, he had signalled his intent, and readiness.

We take a look at the teams vying for promotion in our Division Two preview

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Apr-2024DerbyshireLast season: 6th in Division Two
Head coach: Mickey Arthur
Captains: David Lloyd
Overseas: Blair Tickner
Ins: David Lloyd (Glamorgan), Pat Brown (Worcestershire), Aneurin Donald (Hampshire), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Ross Whiteley (Hampshire), Jack Morley (Lancashire, loan)
Outs: Leus du Plooy (Middlesex), George Scrimshaw (Northamptonshire), Billy Godleman, Mark Watt, Tom Wood, Archie Harrison (all released), Mattie McKiernan (retired)Derbyshire went winless across 14 games in Division Two last summer and were only saved the ignominy of finishing second-bottom by Yorkshire’s 48-point deduction. Factor in the departures of talisman Leus Du Plooy and England-capped quick George Scrimshaw, and things look a little bleak. Du Plooy’s loss will be particularly hard to overcome, having scored 3482 first-class runs for the county since joining in 2019.And yet, the winter’s acquisitions bring a freshness to the Incora County Ground. David Lloyd arrives to assume captaincy duties for the County Championship, while Samit Patel adds untold experience and class as white-ball skipper. Aneurin Donald and Pat Brown, 27 and 25 respectively, have something to prove after bright starts to their careers elsewhere were hampered by injuries. A season-long loan for left-arm twirler Jack Morley adds variety – and has Derbyshire doing their bit for the spin backlog – while the return of Ross Whiteley is a nod to former glory days. Whiteley struck the winning runs – a six – to seal the Division Two championship in 2012.It remains to be seen how well (and quickly) they will integrate. But alongside established talents of Wayne Madsen, Anuj Dal, Luis Reece, Sam Conners, Alex Thomson and Zak Chappell, this looks a squad with far more about it. As such, the onus falls on Mickey Arthur to meld the group into the sum of its parts. Now solely focused on Derbyshire after being relieved of his duties with Pakistan, Arthur’s third season will have to be his most productive yet.One to watch: Donald is starting again after an injury-hit five years at Hampshire. A loan spell at Derbyshire comprising just two T20 Blast appearances last season was enough time for Arthur to see the drive and talents of a cricketer looking to make up for lost time. It is eight years since Donald shot to prominence at Glamorgan with a record-equalling 123-ball double-century. You’ll never guess who that was against… Vithushan EhantharajahRelated

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Bet365: 11/1GlamorganLast season: 5th in Division Two
Director of cricket: Mark Wallace
Head coach: Grant Bradburn
Captain: Sam Northeast
Overseas: Marnus Labuschagne, Colin Ingram, Mir Hamza
Ins: Mason Crane (Hampshire, loan)
Outs: David Lloyd (Derbyshire), Andrew Salter (retired), Callum Taylor (released)Glamorgan drew 12 of their 14 Championship matches last year to finish mid-table in Division Two. They have not played in the top flight since 2005 and are conscious that merely avoiding defeats will not be sufficient if they are to avoid a two-decade absence from Division One next year.No bowler managed 40 Championship wickets last summer and Michael Neser, the Australian allrounder, will not return this year, preferring a short stint at Hampshire after his wife gave birth to twins. “We’re going to have to risk losing at times to win more games,” Sam Northeast, who will captain in the Championship following Lloyd’s departure to Derbyshire, told the BBC. “We’re going to have to be a bit smarter with the way we want to get 20 wickets and at home, we’re going to have to be more experimental in the pitches.”Grant Bradburn has replaced Matt Maynard as coach and has brought Pakistan’s Mir Hamza in for the first two months of the season. Marnus Labuschagne will also return to Wales and should be available for the majority of the summer, while Colin Ingram will be on standby as the back-up overseas player in the Championship.One to watch: Mason Crane has been a case study in English cricket’s love-hate relationship with legspin: thrown in at the deep end with a Test debut in 2018, then left treading water ever since. He has only played five first-class games in the last two years but Hampshire have loaned him out to Glamorgan for the whole summer, where he should play regularly. Matt RollerBet365: 6/1Mason Crane has joined Glamorgan on loan for the season•Getty ImagesGloucestershireLast season: 8th in Division Two
Head coach: Mark Alleyne
Captain: Graeme van Buuren
Overseas: Cameron Bancroft, Zafar Gohar, Beau Webster
Ins:
Outs: Tom Lace, Will Naish, Paul van Meekeren, Jared Warner (all released)The only way is up after Gloucestershire’s winless Championship season culminated in the club’s first wooden spoon since 2012. There has been a clearout behind the scenes, with coach Dale Benkenstein and his assistant Will Porterfield joining Lancashire and bowling coach Robbie Joseph moving to Kent. Mark Alleyne is back as Benkenstein’s replacement, having previously coached the club from 2004-7.They have strengthened their batting line-up with the addition of Cameron Bancroft, who missed Western Australia’s recent Sheffield Shield victory with a concussion but is expected to be available from the start of the season. They will again rely heavily on the Price brothers, Tom and Ollie; Ollie made three hundreds last year, and batted at No. 3 for the Lions in two of their three recent unofficial Tests against India A.The stated aim is promotion, which Alleyne has described as “a realistic goal”. It is difficult to see how Gloucestershire will bowl teams out on a regular basis. Zafar Gohar, the Pakistani allrounder, is back to lead their spin attack, but Matt Taylor was their leading wicket-taker among seamers last season with just 20.One to watch: James Bracey is the forgotten man of English cricket, drafted into the Test side in the absence of more established wicketkeepers in 2021, then unceremoniously discarded after eight runs in three innings. At 26, he is young enough to come again and despite a poor Championship season with the bat, he showed signs of a revival during an unbeaten 224 against Somerset in a 50-over game. MRBet365: 16/1LeicestershireLast season: 4th in Division Two
Director of cricket: Claude Henderson
Head coach: Alfonso Thomas
Captain: Lewis Hill
Overseas: Wiaan Mulder, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris (April-May)
Ins: Ben Mike (Yorkshire), Liam Trevaskis (Durham), Ben Cox (Worcestershire), Scott Currie (Hampshire, loan)
Outs: Callum Parkinson (Durham) Colin Ackermann (Durham), Will Davis, Ed Barnes, Nick Welch, Arron Lilley, Scott Steel, Michael Finan (all released)Leicestershire provided the feelgood story of the 2023 season, with a sustained and surprising promotion push that dovetailed gloriously with their first List A silverware in 38 years – and at a time when 50-over cricket has been shunted to the margins of relevance, there was arguably no team could have valued that Metro Bank Cup win more than the ECB’s most maligned county, the winners of eight wooden spoons in 14 Championship campaigns. What, though, can Leicestershire make of their taste for that winning feeling? After taking over from Paul Nixon last summer, Alfonso Thomas – aided by his assistant James Taylor – has undertaken quite the clear-out over the winter, with eight players making way but Peter Handscomb, crucially, committing to a second season after his vital contributions across formats. Ben Mike is back after his abortive switch to Yorkshire, and the sense that Grace Road is suddenly in vogue was exacerbated when Chris Wright, the veteran seamer, reneged on his move to Sussex.One to watch: A first-class record of nine wickets at 62.77 isn’t much to write home about, but you need only to look at Josh Hull’s physical attributes to know that Leicestershire are in possession of a potential world-beater. Aged just 19, his 6’8″ left-arm seamers played a pivotal role in the Metro Bank Cup win, inswinging at pace from a steepling release point. His fellow teenager Rehan Ahmed has shown how quickly players with such unique attributes can be fast-tracked in the modern era. Andrew MillerBet365: 10/1 Leus du Plooy will carry a weight of expectations as Middlesex•PA Photos/Getty ImagesMiddlesexLast season: 9th in Division One
Head of performance: Alan Coleman
Head coach: Richard Johnson
Captain: Toby Roland-Jones
Overseas: Ins: Leus du Plooy (Derbyshire), Henry Brookes (Warwickshire)
Outs: Tim Murtagh (retired), John Simpson (Sussex)It was misery for Middlesex wherever you looked in 2023. On the field, they lost each of their top four for ducks in their first innings of the season against Essex and scarcely regained their poise in slipping towards relegation. Off the field, the club’s parlous finances took centre stage (heightened by an ugly stand-off with their former CEO), the upshot of which is the outsourcing of some home Blast fixtures to Chelmsford, and the notable absence of any overseas signings.At least in Leus du Plooy they’ve landed themselves a proven and prolific run-scorer – his experiences at Derbyshire will have prepared him well for the challenge that awaits – while Henry Brookes’ arrival from Warwickshire means that Tim Murtagh’s retirement won’t leave such a large a hole in the seam-bowling ranks. John Simpson’s surprise departure for Sussex won’t be so easily covered off, however. Jack Davies has big gloves to fill behind the stumps.One to watch: Josh De Caires went from a solitary first-class wicket in 2022 to a prolific haul of 27 at 25.59 last summer, including two startling displays against Hampshire and Essex – 7 for 144 in the former and 8 for 106 in the latter. As the son of Mike Atherton, the fact that it was his chip-off-the-block batting that earned him initial recognition augurs well for his hopes of developing further this summer. AMBet365: 11/2 NorthamptonshireLast season: 10th in Division One
Head coach: John Sadler
Captain: Luke Procter
Overseas: Karun Nair, Prithvi Shaw, Chris Tremain
Ins: George Bartlett (Somerset), George Scrimshaw (Derbyshire)
Outs: Tom Taylor, Josh Cobb (both Worcestershire), Gareth Berg, Simon Kerrigan, Graeme White (all retired), Hasan Azad, Harry Gouldstone (both released)Northamptonshire’s shoestring operation defied gravity to survive a season in the top flight for the first time in 2022 but they could not repeat the trick. A brittle batting order managed just one bonus point from their first nine games, and saw Northants bowled out for scores of 63, 72 and 56 – although they did manage to win a dogfight against fellow strugglers Kent in the second round, the writing was on the wall by the halfway point of the campaign, when they had lost five times, four of them by an innings.Their season was lifted by the arrivals of two India batters, both of whom will return this summer. Prithvi Shaw lit up the Metro Bank Cup in August with 244 off 153 balls; he could play a pivotal part in Northants’ promotion push when he returns for the second half of the 2024. And Karun Nair’s 150 at The Oval threatened to derail Surrey’s title push in the penultimate round. Nair, unwanted at the IPL, will add fibre to the batting for the first block of seven games, while the signings of Georges Bartlett and Scrimshaw demonstrate ambition. An attack featuring Chris Tremain, Ben Sanderson and Jack White is one to be reckoned with, too.One to watch: Alex Russell, a 21-year-old legspinner, broke into the Championship team last year, taking 6 for 175 against Kent in his second appearance. Those were his only wickets in three outings – but, remarkably, he went to Zimbabwe over the winter and finished as the Logan Cup’s leading wicket-taker. Could be a real find. Alan GardnerBet365: 5/11:21

Seales hopes Sussex stint can boost Test chances

SussexLast season: 3rd in Division Two
Director of cricket: Keith Greenfield
Head coach: Paul Farbrace
Captain: John Simpson
Overseas: Cheteshwar Pujara, Jayden Seales, Daniel Hughes, Nathan McAndrew, Jaydev Unadkat
Ins: Danny Lamb (Lancashire), John Simpson (Middlesex)
Outs: George Garton (Warwickshire), Ali Orr (Hampshire), Steven Finn, Jamie Atkins (both retired)Any sense that things had got too cosy down at Hove was banished by Paul Farbrace’s first year in charge. For the first time since 2019, Sussex won more than a single game – and they were still in the hunt for promotion until mid-September, when a fractious encounter with Leicestershire led to the club being docked points. They ultimately finished third, with Farbrace suggesting that another season in Division Two might not do them any harm as he attempted to build a squad equipped for the step up.Letting homegrown talents Ali Orr and George Garton go was not the obvious next step, and certainly did not please the members. Ian Gould and Chris Adams resigned from the cricket committee, reportedly in protest. The departure of Rob Andrew after seven years as chief executive to take up a new role at the ECB added to the upheaval.The playing squad at least looks settled for the new season. Experienced wicketkeeper John Simpson will take charge of the Championship side after joining from Middlesex, and Cheteshwar Pujara returns for a third stint – although a back complaint will keep him out of Friday’s opener. With West Indies seamer Jayden Seales sharing the new ball alongside Ollie Robinson in the first block of games, Sussex will be looking to get an early jump on their rivals.One to watch: James Coles became Sussex’s youngest first-class debutant in 2020 and last season nailed down a spot in the first XI with 849 runs at 42.45, including three first-class hundreds. England Lions recognition followed and, while his bowling remains a work in progress, his presence in the top six allows Sussex to always play two spinners. AGBet365: 6/1YorkshireLast season: 7th in Division Two
Head coach: Ottis Gibson
Captain: Shan Masood
Overseas: Shan Masood
Ins: Dan Moriarty (Surrey)
Outs: Ben Mike (Leicestershire), Will Fraine, Jack Shutt (both released)Will this be the season that Yorkshire finally emerge from the shadow cast by the racism scandal that engulfed the club in 2021? Relegated on the final day the following summer, their chances of an immediate promotion in 2023 were torpedoed by the 48-point penalty handed down by the ECB over their handling of revelations by Azeem Rafiq. It remains to be seen whether the return of Colin Graves as chair during the offseason – essentially to repeat the financial bailout he provided back 2002 – further hampers attempts to move on.That doesn’t mean expectations in the Broad Acres will be set any lower. Even before their sanction, Yorkshire’s expected charge failed to materialise last year. Losing at home to Leicestershire in the opening round set the tone and it was not until June, and their sixth game, that they managed to record a win. Results did improve during the second half of the season, enabling them to avoid the ignominy of the wooden spoon, and head coach Ottis Gibson will demand continued improvement. The opening partnership of Adam Lyth and Finlay Bean was a rare bright spot while Ben Coad and Matt Fisher are bowlers with Division One pedigree.The expected availability of Harry Brook and Joe Root in early season will help. And in Shan Masood, who also leads Pakistan’s Test team, Yorkshire have a captain who knows a bit about impossible jobs.One to watch: Powerfully built allrounder Matthew Revis first played for Yorkshire as a 17-year-old in 2019 but last year put together a complete season, missing only five games across formats. In red-ball cricket, he scored his first two hundreds while averaging 44.27 and also claiming a maiden five-for. AGBet365: 2/1

Zimbabwe, who failed to qualify for the World Cup, last played an international match in January

Mohammad Isam02-May-2024Will it be competitive?Zimbabwe won their last bilateral T20I series against Bangladesh, in 2022. It doesn’t necessarily make them favourites in this series, but it is a strong reminder that Bangladesh can’t treat Zimbabwe as pushovers. The fans’ theory that the BCB organises a series against Zimbabwe only when Bangladesh are in trouble is a strange one. But it has grown arms and legs in Bangladesh over the years, which dilutes the Zimbabwe-Bangladesh contests.Zimbabwe, meanwhile, will hope to play the way they did at home in 2022, when they beat Bangladesh for the first time in a T20I series. They beat Bangladesh in the ODIs series as well but are yet to win a white-ball series in Bangladesh since 2001.T20 World Cup preparations afoot for hostsThe hosts will be without Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman for the first three matches. The selectors gave Shakib time to recover from a long journey from the US, and the chance to prepare himself in the Dhaka Premier League. Mustafizur, meanwhile, returns to Bangladesh from the IPL on Thursday, where he has transformed his bowling form.Among those in the squad, Litton Das will be desperate for runs after a dry spell against Sri Lanka. Tanzid Hasan, a newcomer in the T20I squad, will also look to fill one of the opening spots with Soumya Sarkar still on the recovery table. Jaker Ali will be keen to add more to his one big knock against Sri Lanka.Mohammad Saifuddin will also be on his toes on his return to the senior fold after a year and a half due to his back injury. Mahedi Hasan and Tanvir Islam are vying for T20 World Cup slots as the second spinner behind Shakib, while Rishad Hossain will hope to continue his impressive season.Zimbabwe missed out on the T20 World Cup qualification•AFP/Getty ImagesTime to bounce backBangladesh’s improved T20I run from 2023 halted when Sri Lanka stung them in March this year. They lost the opening game by a slim margin before bouncing back in the second game. While Nuwan Thushara’s top-order hat-trick blew them away in the third match, Sri Lanka also exposed mental frailties within the Bangladesh side. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto have to ensure that his team-mates are up for it in the big moments, and have far better concentration than what they showed against Sri Lanka. What are Zimbabwe up to, lately?After missing out on the T20 World Cup qualification in November last year, Zimbabwe have also lost series to Ireland and Sri Lanka. Most of their players from the current squad took part in the domestic T20 competition before some of them, playing for the Zimbabwe Emerging side, won the gold medal in the African Games. Zimbabwe have generally been on the down-low in international cricket, although after the Bangladesh series, they play a five-match T20I series against India at home from July 6 to 14. They also play a one-off Test against Ireland in Stormont from July 25.Pitches and weatherMost of Bangladesh is in the middle of a severe heatwave. Though rain in the coming week is good news for the suffering millions, it could interrupt parts of this T20I series. There’s rain in the forecast in Dhaka too next weekend when the two sides play the last two T20Is.

Raw pace wasn’t on the agenda at Lord’s, but gritty determination was to the fore

Vithushan Ehantharajah01-Sep-2024It was back in March, following a 4-1 defeat away to India that brought the 2025-26 Ashes into stark focus, that Rob Key put the word out to the pace bowlers of English cricket that speed was more valuable than wickets.Six months on, with a four-man attack made up exclusively of right-armers – and no real tearaway among them – England turned over Sri Lanka in the second Test to seal their second series of the summer. With day five now for resting, it is likely this same quartet will line up once more at the Kia Oval on Friday. A foursome whose speeds rarely breached the mid-80s mph will be charged with preserving a 100 percent summer record for the first time in 20 years.This being Lord’s at the back end of a comically rammed schedule, the pitch was no friend to speed. England needed 66.4 overs on Sunday to force a 190-run win, and it did not look like a whole lot of fun. They’d been given just 55.4 overs of rest after bowling Sri Lanka out for 196 in the first innings, and that was starting to show in the joints of a full-hearted attack.You could throw a towel over England’s average speeds for this second innings. Olly Stone, drafted in as Mark Wood’s replacement – a comparison he downplayed before the match by warning that Wood’s mid-90s consistency was beyond him – clocked the highest at 83.6mph. Chris Woakes, the leader of the attack, brought up the rear with 80.1mph. Key has had the shotgun out for county bowlers operating at those numbers.Of course, average speeds by their nature do not give the full picture. Stone’s qualities as a difference-maker were clear to see when he persuaded a 47-over-old ball to catch the glove of Dimuth Karunaratne, with the opener on 55 and looking at ease in his partnership with Angelo Mathews. A bit of extra mayo – 87mph – found what remaining life there was on a length to end a 122-ball stand that was beginning to irk the hosts.As for Woakes, his operating speed suits his work. His manipulation of the seam and use of the crease – reflected in the fact he was the most economical quick across both teams – is all the more necessary in a post-James Anderson world. Sure, a gondola is never going to win the America’s Cup, but the canals of Venice require a precision that a speed boat does not possess.We can apply all that and more to Gus Atkinson. His latest inscription into the honours board came across 16 overs in which he averaged 83.3mph. Not that it showed.”He has pace,” Dhananjaya de Silva acknowledged at the close of play. Sri Lanka’s captain was on the wrong end of Atkinson’s extra oomph as he failed to manage sharp bounce effectively – despite having a half-century to his name – and played onto his own stumps. “He is able to move the ball both ways. He has troubled us. We knew what to expect from him when we came from Colombo. We haven’t done well against him.”Related

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Matthew Potts – just 0.2mph off Atkinson in a wicketless second innings – was a far more consistent version of himself compared to his outing in the first Test in Manchester. On Friday, his 2 for 19 from 11 overs – including a pearler that turned Mathews inside-out – spoke of a player steadily re-acclimatising to the rigours of Test cricket after a year out of the side. There is a sense he will be a truer version of himself at The Oval.Despite their unique traits – Woakes’ craft, Atkinson’s height, Stone’s catapult-like release and Potts’ relentlessness – there is an obvious similarity of angle and, to a degree, pace, that matches each of the England attacks that has been found wanting in three winless Ashes tours since 2010-11. But even against a poor visiting batting line-up, that homogeny felt like a strength.As a collective, they hammered the pitch just short of a good length, to the tune of 40.16 percent of their deliveries across 104.1 overs, thereby starving Sri Lanka’s batters of their favoured drives.When it came to England’s bumper routine, all the quicks pitched in. What was particularly instructive was how and when Ollie Pope cycled through each of the four when employing the tactic. Because while it was largely predicated on the red Dukes no longer playing ball, every man entrusted to administer the ploy did so with renewed enthusiasm. The job of injecting some extra thrill into proceedings was not limited to one man, and was relished by all.Chris Woakes claimed the first wicket of the fourth day•Getty Images”It’s amazing when you feel like the game’s just plodding along, then you go to that plan and give them a few,” Stone said when reflecting on his role in the barrage that accounted for Karunaratne. “How the game changes, and the atmosphere, and I feel like, yeah, to get that wicket there… was massive.”There is a level of fluidity here that did not exist in previous eras. Under Alastair Cook and Joe Root, there were times when bowlers other than Anderson and Stuart Broad were pigeonholed as bumper specialists (generally the fastest ones, like Wood, Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes) or older-ball containers (Woakes’ previous gig, which Stokes also filled).Perhaps, then, it is no surprise that this current shift in attitude was set in motion by Stokes. When he took over at the start of the 2022 summer, he instigated a unilateral decision that all bowlers must be capable – and willing – to do every possible job. It was something he convinced Anderson and Broad to buy into, and it has become even more evident in their absence. Even Stokes’ own absence, as Ollie Pope carried that over on the field here at Lord’s.Naturally, the likes of Wood, Archer, Stone and, perhaps down the line, Josh Hull – bowlers who fly closest to the sun – will have their own set of parameters. It would be foolish not to acknowledge scarce commodities and offer them a degree of protection from the thankless rigours of Test pitches such as this one. But even Wood this summer, and Stone in this match, have assumed many different guises.If Key’s message before the summer was the need for speed, the message as we enter the final week of the Test season is that it needs to be underpinned by the ability and willingness to perform any task, and every role with the ball.