All posts by n8rngtd.top

Game 1 of the National League Championship Series came down to one deciding at-bat on Monday night and the person in the batter's box would have done something differently if he had the opportunity.

With the Dodgers holding onto a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning, Brewers' Brice Turang encountered a bases-loaded, two-out opportunity against L.A. reliever Blake Treinen. Turang quickly fell down 1-2 in the count and went into battle mode. The next delivery broke inside and potentially would have hit him on his back leg for a game-tying HBP, but Turang instead avoided it. Treinen would go on to notch a strikeout, ending the proceedings and giving the Dodgers a 1-0 series league.

Turang was asked about the pitch and his avoidance after the game and couldn't quite explain it.

"Well, if you see me look in the dugout, I'm thinking, 'Damn.' I know it. Everybody knows it. I couldn't tell you why I did it, I just got out of the way. That's how it is."

Turang didn't wear the breaking ball because he was in the biggest at-bat of his life and instinct kicks in when someone is throwing pure heat with incredible movement. It would have been nice for Brewers fans had he simply stood his ground and made the score 2-2 but it's much, much easier to make decisions given more than .1 of a second to consider them.

ICC and member boards confronted with difficult questions in coming months

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Mar-2020With the COVID-19 pandemic locking the world down, the ICC, like all global sports organisations, has been busy working on contingency plans for their events this year: the men’s T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to be hosted in Australia later this year, the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) and the new ODI League – the pathway for teams to qualify for the men’s 2023 ODI World Cup – which was scheduled to start from May.ESPNcricinfo understands the ICC has already started jotting down early back-up plans but these aren’t concrete yet, as the pandemic remains a fluid situation. But below are some of the options under consideration.Will the 2020 T20 World Cup be cancelled?As of now, the ICC is not considering what would be the worst-case scenario. But in the event that the tournament cannot take place this year, a more feasible option could be pushing the event to next year and defer the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled in India next October, to 2022.Cricket Australia’s chief executive Kevin Roberts sounded optimistic about the event going ahead as per schedule (in Australia in October-November), but in case it does not, the biggest challenge the organisers could face will be the absence of free space to accommodate the tournament later in the year in Australia. Immediately after the T20 World Cup, Australia are scheduled to host Afghanistan for a one-off Test in late November followed by a four-Test and three-match ODI series against India which is scheduled to stretch until January 2021.Another option the ICC might think of exploring is utilising the gap year that is 2022 which currently does not have an ICC global event. But for that alternative, the ICC along with Cricket Australia and BCCI, the hosting boards for the next two T20 World Cups, would need to sit down and carve out an alternate window which then would need to be synced with the larger Future Tours Programme (FTP).What happens to the WTC?India occupy the top slot on the WTC points table, but a 2-0 defeat in New Zealand recently has thrown the race wide open. But now, many series that form part of the WTC will need to be adjusted and deferred. Bear in mind the first cycle is due to end next March, with the final scheduled at Lord’s in June. What happens if there is not enough time to accommodate all the series each of the nine teams are supposed to play (six each)?Will the top two teams, in terms of WTC points table currently, play the final when cricket resumes? Or should the WTC model be reworked to restore parity? It will not be easy given several teams have barely played one series so far under the WTC. Should the WTC final then be deferred to allow all teams play equal number of series to stand an equal chance to make the summit? That would have implications for the second edition of the WTC which was meant to be played from 2021-23. More likely, the current FTP, which runs until 2023, will need to be re-looked at in its entirety.India and Australia are the top two sides on the World Test Championship table•Getty ImagesWhat about the Cricket World Cup Super League – scrap it?The ODI Super League is scheduled to be played between May 1 this year and March 31, 2022, serving as the qualification pathway for the 2023 World Cup. There are 13 teams, including the 12 Test-playing countries along with Netherlands, who will play eight series over a two-year cycle on a home-and-away basis against mutually-agreed opponents. The Super League was put in place to add context to ODI cricket. The administrators will need to decide if it should be postponed altogether, or reduce the number of series when cricket resumes.The most drastic step, which cannot be ruled out, is doing away with the Super League. In such a scenario the qualification process for the 2023 World Cup would need to be reworked.When will the ICC decide on these matters?There is no cut-off date yet chalked out by the ICC. The issue is listed on the agenda for the ICC quarterly meetings scheduled for May 8 to 10, potentially in Dubai based on government regulations, when the chief executives committee and the ICC board are scheduled to meet in person.

With 70 to win from five overs, should Pollard play it safe and target the other Sunrisers bowlers?

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Sep-2020In , we present our writers with a tricky cricketing situation and ask them to captain their way out of it.Scenario: The Mumbai Indians are playing the Sunrisers Hyderabad and need 70 from five overs. Six wickets have fallen, and Kieron Pollard and Rahul Chahar are in the middle, with Trent Boult, Lasith Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah to come. The Sunrisers bring on Rashid Khan for his last over. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has two left, and Siddarth Kaul and Khaleel Ahmed have one each – all three bowlers have gone for nine runs per over so far. Pollard was faced with this same situation versus Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League recently. He chose to block Khan, taking just four off the over, and then got the remaining 66 in the next four. As captain of Mumbai, you can send a note out to Pollard, telling him how to approach the final five overs, what to do against Khan, and who else to target. What does the note say?Gaurav Sundararaman: Seventy from five overs has been achieved eight out of 15 times in the IPL. So it is not impossible, but Pollard needs to have at least two overs of 20-plus runs. Pollard’s stats against Khan at the death while chasing are: 18 runs from 15 balls with one four and one six. So, the note would be to play out Khan and target the seamers. Also, I would ask Pollard to try to keep strike for all 30 balls. Score only fours and sixes and refuse singles, barring off the last balls of overs. He just needs 15 or so boundary balls out of the 30 balls left, so some dots are fine.Sreshth Shah: You need to be there till the end. Minimise risk against Khan and shield your partner. A couple of twos and a single off the last ball is just fine. Kumar will likely bowl the 18th and 20th overs, so attack in the 17th and 19th. You can put pressure on Kaul and Ahmed by getting boundaries off their first balls. That could make them miss their yorkers, giving you some full tosses and length balls.Don’t commit to your shots too early. Feel free to say no to singles off Kaul and Ahmed. You need to face all 12 balls from them and get at least 36 of the remaining 70. That will leave you with 29 to get off Kumar. His yorkers are accurate, so stand outside your crease to mess with his length. Aim for 12 to 14 in the 18th and, if things go to plan, you’ll need 15 to 17 in the 20th. Once there are six balls to go, the pressure will be on the Sunrisers, and we back you to finish the game. You’ve done this before.Karthik Krishnaswamy: As Mumbai’s captain, I’d just leave it to Pollard to figure out how to attack which bowler – the man has played more than 500 T20 games and won so many of them from situations like this. I’d leave it to him to decide whether to play out Khan or go after him. There’s an opportunity from the other end, though, if the Sunrisers put extra fielders in the ring and look to keep Chahar on strike. If that’s the case, I’d tell Chahar to pick two areas he’s confident of hitting boundaries in and go after balls that give him a chance to hit into those areas. If the Sunrisers set regular fields to him, I’d tell him to take the singles on offer and give Pollard the strike as much as possible.Vishal Dikshit: Mumbai’s situation is similar to the one the Chennai Super Kings found themselves in against the Sunrisers in the 2018 Qualifier. The Super Kings were 92 for 7 and needed 48 from 30. Faf du Plessis was batting with the tail and had one over of Khan to face. He took just one run from that over, but the Super Kings still won with five balls to spare. So, my obvious message to Pollard would be to play out Khan’s entire over, even if it is for a maiden. Once Khan is done, back yourself to the hilt against Kaul and Ahmed because Kumar has a tricky knuckleball, which makes it tougher for batsmen to clear the boundary.Kaul tries a lot of yorkers in the death, so I’d advise Pollard to bat like his team-mate Hardik Pandya: go deep in the crease and across towards off stump, and target the long-on boundary. One last note: don’t give the strike to Bumrah and Malinga.Shashank Kishore: I’m going to assume this is happening in Sharjah, where the boundaries are small. For the last four overs, you have two bowlers short on international experience and a Kumar who may be a bit rusty after some injuries and niggles over the past year. So there’s reason to show Khan respect. You can still look for boundaries down the ground as the straight boundaries are probably as big as the ones in your backyard, but only if Khan misses his lengths. If you get four, you can safely take a single late in the over. It doesn’t matter if Chahar gets out on the last ball. Now, down to the last four. You need something in the range of 60 to 66. Dew will play its part, the ball will skid on. Trust your instincts, hit through the line. Even mis-hits will fly. Watch out for Kumar’s knuckleball – hold your shape for a split second against him. Watch, watch, don’t commit early. Even if you play 18 out of the 24 balls, we’ve got a good chance of winning.

Also: who were the two uncapped players who played in the World XI in 1971-72?

Steven Lynch25-May-2021The Dutch batter Max O’Dowd just scored his third half-century in three ODIs. How many people have started like this? asked Mike Kramer from Belgium

The New Zealand-born Netherlands batter Max O’Dowd started his one-day international career with 86 not out and 59 against Zimbabwe in June 2019, and added 82 against Scotland in Rotterdam last week (his sequence ended when he was out for 8 in the next game).Remarkably, the only other man to make half-centuries in his first three ODIs also played for the Netherlands – Tom Cooper began with 80 not out and 87 against Scotland, then 67 against Kenya in 2010. The Indian opener Navjot Singh Sidhu hit half-centuries in his first three ODI innings, but that sequence included a match in which he did not bat.In the women’s game, Hayley Matthews of West Indies made 55, 89 and 60 in her first three ODIs, against Australia in November 2014. I believe there has been one first-class hat-trick in which all three victims were stumped. When was this? asked Naval Patel from India

The match concerned was a long time ago – in the early days of the official County Championship, in August 1893. During a game in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire’s amateur wicketkeeper William “Sam” Brain ended Somerset’s second innings by stumping three batters off successive deliveries from Charles Townsend, a big-turning legspinner who was only 16 years old at the time. Wisden called it “a sensational incident”, while the Times noted that “the innings was finished in a summary manner by young Mr Townsend”. Six years later, he played two Tests in the 1899 Ashes series.In all, Brain made five stumpings in the match, four of them off Townsend’s bowling and the other off WG Grace. This was Brain’s final season of county cricket, though he remained active at club level. He joined the family brewing business (which still survives), eventually becoming its chairman.Is Khokhan Sen the only player who was born in what is now Bangladesh who played Test cricket for another country? asked SM Nazmus Shakib from Bangladesh

The Bengal wicketkeeper Probir “Khokhan” Sen, who played 14 Tests for India, was born in 1926 in Comilla, which was then part of India but is now in Bangladesh. The only other male Test player I can see who was born in present-day Bangladesh appeared in the very first Test of all, for Australia against England in Melbourne in March 1877; Bransby Cooper was born in Dacca, as Dhaka was known at the time. Cooper had played county cricket in England for Kent and Middlesex before moving in 1871 to Australia, where he worked in the Customs department.The Pakistan fast bowler Niaz Ahmed, who won two Test caps in the late 1960s, played for East Pakistan before it became Bangladesh – but he was actually born in Benares (now Varanasi), in Uttar Pradesh in India.Tony Greig (middle row, third from left) and Hylton Ackerman (middle row, extreme right) had not made their Test debuts when they played as part of the World XI in 1971-72•Fairfax DigitalApparently there were two uncapped players in the Rest of the World team that toured Australia in 1971-72. Who were they? asked Chris Beckett from Australia

The World XI you’re talking about undertook a full tour of Australia in 1971-72, replacing a trip by South Africa which was cancelled owing to the political situation there at the time. Garry Sobers reprised his role as World XI captain from 18 months previously in England, but this team was not as strong as that awesome 1970 line-up. After some criticism of his side’s approach – they were bowled out for 59 in the second unofficial Test in Perth – Sobers unfurled one of the greatest innings of all in the next match, in Melbourne, spanking a memorable 254. “The innings was probably the best seen in Australia,” said the watching Don Bradman, who played a few useful innings himself. “The people who saw Sobers have enjoyed one of the historic events of cricket. They were privileged to have such an experience.”The 1971-72 touring party included two players who had not appeared in official Tests at the time. One was Tony Greig, who had played against the Rest of the World XI in 1970 in matches later ruled as unofficial Tests. Greig made his full debut for England a few months after this series in the 1972 Ashes, and went on to win 58 caps. But the other man remained uncapped, thanks to South Africa’s sporting isolation: opener Hylton Ackerman had a long career with several provincial teams at home, and spent some time with Northamptonshire. His son HD Ackerman did win four Test caps.Further to last week’s question about centuries in successive Tests, who has the similar record for centuries in the most consecutive innings? And what about five-wicket hauls? asked Adam Wilson from England

The great West Indian Everton Weekes, who died last year, is the only man to score centuries in five successive Test innings, against England in 1947-48 and India in 1948-49 – the sequence was ended by a questionable run-out decision when he had scored 90 in the fourth Test in Madras (now Chennai). By coincidence, the wicketkeeper who whipped the bails off was Khokhan Sen, who is mentioned above. Weekes recalled: “I went forward and started running but came back into my crease and watched the whole thing happen. The umpire might have thought he had seen enough of me for the series…”Jack Fingleton (Australia), Alan Melville (South Africa) and Rahul Dravid (India) all scored centuries in four successive innings.As far as the bowlers are concerned, the old Australian Charles “Terror” Turner is alone is recording six successive five-fors, all against England during 1888. Three bowlers have managed five in a row: the Surrey and England seamers Tom Richardson and Alec Bedser, and rather more recently, the West Indian offspinner Shane Shillingford.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

The former South Africa fast bowler has some tips for Bumrah, Shami and Co

Dale Steyn29-Jul-20212:28

Steyn: “You just have to become aware of where batters like to score their runs”

Dale Steyn, one of the best swing bowlers of the modern era, has considerable experience bowling in England, and was part of two South African teams that won Test series there, in 2008 and 2012. He talks to Sanjay Manjrekar about dealing with the weather, learning to control the swing of the Dukes ball, and how India should to bowl to Joe Root and Ben Stokes in their upcoming series.Get your sweat on
I just went out there and tried to get as warmed up as possible. We’d play a little bit of football, I’d do a lot of running around and get a good sweat on. In South Africa, I usually go out and do my warm-ups and then I want to be back in the dressing room 20-30 minutes before the start of play – I might want to have a shower, relax and get ready for a long day’s play. In England, it was kind of the other way around. I’d try and get into the dressing room with about 15 minutes to go to play, so that when I went out there to bowl, I was still a little bit sweaty and good to go and my body hadn’t cooled off just yet.That might sound like we’re playing in Iceland. It isn’t, but you have to get your body going and I would just bowl, do a lot of running around. I wasn’t a big fan of sitting there and stretching for long periods of time, like I was doing yoga or something. I wanted to move around, get the body flowing, so when it was time to go, I was ready and sort of clicked into first gear.Related

• Sam Curran: 'I look back on the 2018 India series thinking, yes I can perform at this level'

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• Frankly yours, Dale Steyn (2016)

• James Anderson: the swinger (2016)

• What should you bowl to Kohli, Smith, Williamson, Root and Pujara?

Talk to those who’ve been there, done that
When I was starting off my first-class career, it was a lot more accessible to get yourself over to England, play a bit of club cricket. I know a lot of foreign players that used to go and play club cricket or got themselves into a county – maybe even play for the 2nds, because they play so much cricket: they are playing five, six days a week. When you’re doing that on repeat all the time, you get used to the conditions a lot quicker, you get used to the weather and become acclimatised to everything. Nowadays, unfortunately, it’s not that easy, but it just boils down to training, really.You’ve got to speak to someone who’s been there before, who’s done well there, or a coach that’s been there. Measure the distance where you think the ball is going to be on a good length, get a cone, put it down, and if the only nets you have are indoor nets, practise as though you’re playing at Lord’s or Durham or Edgbaston. You just create your own environment wherever you are through the help of other people who have been there. That seems to be the way we do it now. I know when I’m preparing for an IPL or something like that, I’m not in India but I have to go to the nets and imagine that this is where I am and this is who I’m playing against, this is the length that I have to bowl. It’s different to bowling in South Africa and Australia. I put my cone down and just try and nail it ball after ball.If you don’t control the swing, it’ll run away with you
The Dukes ball does tend to swing more and for longer than the Kookaburra. The Kookaburra swings but really late. You speak to somebody who’s probably one of the world’s best swing bowlers, Jimmy Anderson – I don’t think he particularly enjoys bowling with the Kookaburra. He enjoys the Dukes and he’s figured out a way to control that ball. But for foreigners, going to a place like England, you get there and suddenly you’re swinging it 10 to 15cm more than the ball you’re used to bowling with. Now, all of a sudden, to try and get the ball in the right place is a bit of a mission. So just the ball alone can be quite difficult to learn how to control.In South Africa we used to try and get a bunch of Dukes down here a month before we were going to England or to India with the SG. We’d start bowling with them to acclimatise our fingers – those seams are very pronounced – and just get used to the amount of swing and the volume of swing the balls actually have in them.”Jacques Kallis used to say, ‘What’s the game plan for any batter? Top of off or the odd bouncer'”•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesThe balls these days, especially the white Kookaburra ball, doesn’t swing nearly as much as I found it did a couple of years ago. Then you’ll see guys get into a Test match and get this Dukes ball and it’s swinging. It looks pretty, but the control is a whole other ball game.Get that wobble going
In hindsight, I wish I’d taken some of the advice that Kyle Abbott [former South Africa fast bowler] gave me later in my career. I went to England and bowled okay. I wish my stats would have been slightly better, but I found that if I’d done what I did when I was with Hampshire in 2018 and just held the ball more almost cross-seam and didn’t worry too much about the swing, the ball was still going to swing. It kind of wobbled a little bit and still swung – and it moved a lot later. It looks so pretty when you bowl these big swingers and the guy plays forward and you’re going up, “Ooh he’s played and missed” – I’m kinda hoping that every ball he plays and misses or nicks it, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise for me when he plays and misses!So I wish that I’d done that earlier when I was in England. I think I would have found the edge a lot more. The ball wouldn’t have swung as much, but I think I would have been a lot more effective in the way that I’d taken wickets. We see guys now and they still swing it beautifully but it almost goes too much. Anderson’s a master of it. He swings it, swings it, swings it, and then you just see this wobble seam and it confuses the batter. Then the next one he bowls a big swinger and they chase it and nick it off or something like that. Playing in those conditions, he’s obviously a lot more skilled than the rest of us, but I wish I’d done that earlier in my career.Know where to land it to hit top of off
Jacques Kallis used to say, “What’s the game plan for any batter? Top of off or the odd bouncer.” In every meeting. It just became like this running joke. And it is the truth – top of off or the odd bouncer is going to do many a batter over. The difficult part is trying to find what length top of off is. Different grounds have different bounce. Some are low, some bounce more, and that’s something you have to work out, and obviously why you want to go to a stadium a couple of days or weeks earlier to prep and play a couple of warm-up games to find that length.”I’m not going to say Root is a nick-off candidate, but a lot of the ways I have seen him get out are caught behind or caught at slips, especially in England”•Ryan Pierse/Getty ImagesI was always trying to look for that length where I was hitting the stumps. I found that if I was hitting the stumps, especially for a batter’s first 20 balls, that’s where I’m going to cause him the biggest amount of trouble. After that I might want to drag my length back a little so that I can get him more on the back foot and then throw the odd one fuller and hope his weight was on the back foot. But ideally the length you’re always looking at is where it’s going to be clipping the top of the stumps.It was more on feel for me. I wanted to feel the ball out of my hand and I could almost close my eyes and feel, yep, that’s it, I’ve got that length, just make a note in my brain that that’s where I need to let it go. Not everybody can do that and it’s not a very easy thing to coach. However, you get a coach like Ottis Gibson, who was brilliant. You could go to the Wanderers, you could go to Chennai, you could go anywhere and he’d pull out his little book and give you the exact measurements in metres from the stumps as to what length you have to bowl for the ball to hit the top of the stumps. Then he’d go put these little markers out there and say, “Boys, this is your length.” You’d be playing in Australia and you would go from Perth to Hobart and it could change by 30 or 40cm, almost half a metre in length, though you’re playing in the same country. Ottis was fantastic at making a note as to every ground where you went to what was the length bowlers bowled to hit the stumps – especially in the last game you played there.Length, length, length
Different batters do different things. You look at Virat Kohli and others – they are coming out of their crease now and they’re trying to negate that swing. So it feels like you have to drag your length back, but the moment you do that, the ball is not hitting the stumps anymore.So you have to find ways of getting the batter back in his crease. You might go two overs or three overs where you go a little bit shorter and you’re forcing him to say, “Okay, cool, he’s not going to go full, I’m going to have to go back in my crease.” And the guys at point or square leg will send a message to mid-off or mid-on to tell the bowler that the batter is batting a little bit out of his crease or he’s batting deeper in the crease.2:45

“Ideally the length you’re always looking at is where it’s going to be clipping the top of the stumps”

For me, I always felt like it didn’t matter whether the batter was coming at me or going deeper in the crease. I still needed to hit the stumps. I needed to find the length that was going to hit the stumps because regardless of where he was batting, if the ball wasn’t hitting the stumps, my bowled or my lbw was out the window. Then I’m only looking for one mode of dismissal and that’s not what I was about. I was always looking for caught behind, lbw and bowled. So then I’d have to figure out a way of getting the batter into a position where I could find that length again.I think just being absolutely relentless on length will be the biggest thing. In England, it really always boils down to length. The pitches aren’t particularly fast, so when you drop it a bit short, it does tend to be a bit spongy and a little bit slower. Glenn McGrath was absolutely relentless in bowling that length. He made you play every ball. You just felt that every ball he bowled, he was in business and you were in trouble, and that’s why he was so successful.India’s pace line-up: plenty in the quiver
I like what they have got right now. All those bowlers bring something different to the party. My advice is to stay fit. Five Test matches – that requires a lot of bowling. It’s a lot of wickets to take, and if you’re going to rely on your seamers to do a lot of bowling, you have to stay fit.I like Shardul Thakur. He does swing the ball beautifully, and when he learns how to get the ball that stays straight on batters, that’s when he might find a lot more edges. He’s another guy like Tim Southee that can swing it beautifully, but he needs to learn how to bowl that kind of scrambled ball that just holds the line and he can find the edges.Bhuvneshwar Kumar is fantastic. He can bowl in any ground in the world and he could be successful because he bowls such a wonderful length. He can swing it and he’s got the skill in his wrist to be able to seam the ball too. India have all the arsenal they need.”I think we’re putting a lot of emphasis on the seamers when someone like R Ashwin might be the biggest key for India [in England]”•Adam Davy/PA Photos/Getty ImagesMohammed Siraj is somebody who could come in. I think he brings a good attitude to the game. That’s another thing we tend to forget when you’re playing in England conditions. It’s not just about where you put the ball but also the attitude you bring, getting in people’s faces, making them play shots they don’t particularly want to play – I think Siraj is somebody who can do that. I saw parts of that little bit of fight when he played in Australia and I immediately knew he’s going to have a good Test career. Don’t forget about the attitude of a fast bowler too. Maybe that’s something India would have really relished in the World Test Championship final, but it would have come with the sacrifice of some more runs.Umesh Yadav – quick through the air, swings it beautifully. And then you can decide whether it’s Umesh or Mohammed Shami you pick. For me, they do a similar kind of thing – similar heights, both swing the ball. It just boils down to who’s bowling better in the nets, who’s higher in confidence, in the better mental space.How to deal with Stokes and Root
Against the best players in the world, you almost have the same plans – Kohli, Kane Williamson, Joe Root, AB de Villiers, you’re looking to get them out with those three modes of dismissal, lbw, caught behind and bowled. You throw in the odd bouncer every now and then.You just become aware of where they like to score their runs. Root might score more runs through third man, so you might go, “Okay, we don’t need the cover [fielder]. We’re going to put him in gully”. I’m not going to say Root is a nick-off candidate, but a lot of the ways I have seen him get out are caught behind or caught at slips, especially in England, where there is a bit of cloud cover. In the three Test matches I have watched so far in England this year, the ball has been swinging. Probably the one area I’d focus on primarily is to get him out caught in the slips or caught behind.Ben Stokes – depends on what mood he’s in! Such a good player. I know that when we played against him, we liked to come around the wicket at him. He’s comfortable against right-arm seamers coming over the wicket, so coming round the wicket and trying to straighten the ball was an option we liked. But it depends on what kind of mood you get Ben Stokes in. If he’s in a free-scoring kind of mood, he could score really quickly, but he’ll give you chances. If he’s in a defensive kind of mood, he can knuckle down. Not in the way Cheteshwar Pujara does, but Stokes puts a lot of value on his wicket.It might come down to the spinners
Maybe it’s out-of-the-box thinking here from me, but I think we’re putting a lot of emphasis on the seamers when someone like R Ashwin might be the biggest key for India. As these five Test matches go on, I think spin will be the difference. Ashwin is the kind of bowler that bowls tons and tons of overs. Teams like England and Australia, who are so good at playing seamers and seamer-friendly conditions, don’t tend to play spin particularly well. So Ashwin might be the biggest trump card that India have going forward. And the same thing for England – can they find somebody who can spin out Rishabh Pant? So it might be the fight of who the better spinners are in the series.

Liam Livingstone’s side suffer batting implosion as Bulls charge into T10 final

Aadam Patel03-Dec-2021Halfway into the Abu Dhabi T10, with five wins out of five, Team Abu Dhabi were looking like the team to beat with their imposing brand of cricket, instilled by Paul Farbrace, and the aggressive manner in which they were taking the game to the opposition.Captain Liam Livingstone said they would commit to that fearless style and strategy, knowing that one day they would get bowled out for 50 or 60. He just wished that day wouldn’t come when it really mattered.For much of the tournament, that approach worked – they became the first side to reach the play-offs and with last-ball sixes to seal victories against Deccan Gladiators and Delhi Bulls, the trophy looked destined to be theirs. Everything was going their way. But as so often happens in these competitions, it is about peaking at the right time.As the T10 journeyed towards its business end, their insistence on that identity remained; perhaps ultimately, it was the cause of their demise.It was at this very stage that Team Abu Dhabi fell in the last edition of this tournament, and as they were bowled out for 60 by Bulls in the second qualifier here, driven on by a determined Dominic Drakes who will no doubt be a man you will hear much more of in years to come, their inability to adapt proved to be the reason as to why it will be Gladiators and Bulls who will instead contest Saturday’s final at the Zayed Cricket Ground.After Gladiators had earlier beaten Bulls in the first qualifier to secure their place in the final, the Abu Dhabi outfit hammered Bangla Tigers to eliminate Faf du Plessis’ side. The final act of Friday’s triple-header thus saw sides led by Livingstone and Dwayne Bravo go head to head for a place in the final.Earlier in the day, Wanindu Hasaranga’s crucial removal of Rahmanullah Gurbaz – the star of the tournament – for just 19 offered a different challenge for the Bulls batters. Suddenly, they needed someone other than Gurbaz to step upDespite Eoin Morgan briefly threatening to pull off something special when he went after Andre Russell with three consecutive sixes, he hit a full toss the very next ball straight to Odean Smith and that was the end of that.Wahab Riaz stated how despite Gurbaz hitting the Sri Lankan for six in the first over after the powerplay, he continued with that match-up knowing that Hasaranga was his key wicket-taker. That decision worked as Gurbaz sent the first ball of Hasaranga’s next over straight to Tom Kohler-Cadmore at long-on and it was Gladiators, instead of Bulls, who would get Friday night off.A few hours later, Livingstone handed the ball to Sheldon Cottrell to open the bowling against Gurbaz. Cottrell started with a wide, but his first legitimate delivery was simply too good for Gurbaz. With a hint of extra bounce and a fraction of movement, the ball beat the youngster’s inside edge and crashed into his stumps.Related

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Livingstone again showed his quality with the ball, removing his England captain, Morgan, for the second night in succession and finishing with figures of 2 for 7 in his two overs.At the interval, needing 110 to reach their first ever Abu Dhabi T10 final, Team Abu Dhabi would have been quietly confident with the wealth of batting that they possessed – in Livingstone himself, accompanied by the likes of Chris Gayle, Phil Salt, Paul Stirling and Colin Ingram – yet, with an element of concern knowing that the night before they had struggled to 86 for 8 against the same opposition, largely thanks to an Adil Rashid hat-trick and three wickets for Drakes.When Salt and Stirling smashed 23 off the first over from Chandrapaul Hemraj, it looked like this was going to be their night.Instead, Bravo turned to his trump card in Drakes for the second over and the 23-year-old responded in style, getting the in-form Salt, before removing the powerful Livingstone for a golden duck as he edged through to Gurbaz. Sparked by a spirited celebration from Gurbaz, the Bulls players went wild – they sensed blood.And they didn’t take their foot off the gas. The wickets kept coming. Fazalhaq Farooqi had gone for 41 runs in his two overs earlier in the day, but with his first over, he dismissed both Stirling and Ingram. In the very next over, Gayle hit one from Romario Shepherd straight to Bravo at long-off and Danny Briggs was gone first ball as Gurbaz pulled off a brilliant one-handed catch. The wicketkeeper set about celebrating in style, knowing that the Bulls had one foot in the final.At 44 for 6 at the halfway stage, the game was all but done. Bravo turned again to the man from Barbados to make it a certainty and with his second over, he got rid of both Jamie Overton and Marchant de Lange. Drakes finished with stunning figures of 4 for 13 and joined Hasaranga with 19 wickets at the top of the tally. He has been a revelation this year and will no doubt make his West Indies debut on their tour to Pakistan. In the son of Vasbert Drakes they have a star in the making.As Cottrell heaved one out to Morgan to conclude the final rites, Team Abu Dhabi were all out for 60 with nine balls to spare. For Livingstone and co, that dreaded moment had come at exactly the wrong time. Their wait for a first ever T10 title goes on.Instead, it will be either Wahab or Bravo who lifts the trophy come Saturday evening.

We all know he can do no wrong. Ever stopped to think just why that might be the case?

Alan Gardner15-Apr-2022Is there anything that Pat Cummins can’t do? Okay, so he’s yet to be offered the throne of Albania, and we don’t currently have evidence that he can jump from a stationary position to standing upright on the mantelpiece – but then CB Fry probably wouldn’t have been that much use on the farm either.Let’s look at the evidence. In the past month or so, Cummins has: led Australia to a famous Test series win on their long-awaited return to Pakistan, where his ability to bowl 90mph reverse-swinging bombs transcended some of the most inhospitable surfaces this side of Mars; rocked up at the IPL and opened a can of whup-ass with the bat, smoking the joint-fastest fifty in the tournament’s history; and solved the climate emergency (okay, so maybe that’s an exaggeration – but he working on it.Of course, if you’ve got anything like the same corroded world view as the Light Roller, instinctively your first response is one of deep, deep suspicion. How did this chiselled blue-eyed boy, one of the world’s leading fast bowlers and the rare Australia captain who wouldn’t deliberately offend your grandma, not to mention a UNICEF ambassador, business degree graduate, sportsman with a statesman’s mien, all-round good egg – how did he come by all these gifts without doing something diabolical in return?And that’s when you realise. He absolutely have done something diabolical in return. Maybe that missing fingertip wasn’t just the result of a childhood accident – perfectly plausible cover story – but the initial down payment on Pat’s Faustian pact.The signs were there, of course, if only we could see past the winsome smile and immaculate length. Daniel Sams knows it – just look at his face after he was torched by Cummins the other night; you can actually pinpoint the second when his heart rips in half. Justin Langer, meanwhile, had to cop it sweet during his whole contract wrangle with CA. And who was it that first posted a video of Alex Carey walking into a swimming pool while in Pakistan? Yep, lovable Patty C.(We’re not suggesting he had anything to do with “Sandpapergate”, by the way. That was clearly the work of a real evil genius. Or Cameron Bancroft.)”The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” So said Charles Baudelaire, the 19th century French poet who had a good nose for something fishy going on – and he would doubtless have been right on the scent here. Basically, folks, it’s important not to get seduced by the story. From now on, look at it this way: every gold-plated, spine-tingling, joy-sparking act of wonder that Cummins produces, on the cricket field or off – that’s 100% incontrovertible evidence of his deal with Satan.

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Let’s take a moment to warm our hands at the dumpster fire that is English Test cricket. Lo and behold, turns out sacking the management (but not the captain) and binning your two greatest fast bowlers wasn’t a recipe for succeeding in the Caribbean after all – though Joe Root did at least come up with a new spin on their latest series defeat, saying his team played “brilliant cricket”. You might have felt you missed that, after two dull draws and a ten-wicket defeat, but perhaps Root was just displaying his full range of linguistic shot-making. After all, England’s batting in Grenada was dazzlingly, blindingly – you could say brilliantly – bad. “I think we’ve shown what we’re capable of as a group,” Root added, which was perhaps not so far from the truth.

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These are heady times for Bangladesh. Their first ever win away to New Zealand, a famous Test smash-and-grab in Mount Maunganui. Their first-ever win away to South Africa, followed up by their second in a 2-1 ODI series romp – a result that consolidated their position at the top of the World Cup Super League. And now, further signs that they are ready for the big time. Okay, so they had their pants pulled down in the two Tests against South Africa… but before you could even say “bowled out by two spinners??”, the Bangladesh board moved into action, throwing shade at the local umpiring standards and calling out the opposition for sledging. Now Mominul Haque just needs to start yelling abuse into stumps mics and Bangladesh will have gone what’s known in the business as “Full BCCI”.

Also, who takes the No.3 and No.4 slots?

Karthik Krishnaswamy24-Jun-20221:17

Lara – ‘Rahul Tripathi can be a tremendous asset for SRH and India’

India have just gone through an entire five-match T20I series without making a single change to their XI. Now they begin a series in Ireland with a squad that looks similar in many respects, but is different in a couple of major ways. Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer are absent, having joined India’s Test squad in England, and Hardik Pandya will captain the side. Rahul Dravid is also away in England, so VVS Laxman will take over coaching duties. How will India’s XI shape up under Hardik and Laxman?Who bats at Nos. 3 and 4?

India’s most difficult selection could be who fills the No. 3 and 4 slots vacated by Shreyas and Pant, with their squad containing five candidates for those two roles. Of the five, Deepak Hooda and Venkatesh Iyer are incumbents who spent the entire South Africa series on the bench, while Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson are making comebacks.Related

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Suryakumar will probably slot straight back into the side at No. 3, having only missed the South Africa series because he was nursing a forearm injury. Given what he’s done in his brief international career so far – he averages 39.00 and has a strike rate of 165.56 after 12 T20I innings – he’s probably ahead of Shreyas in the queue for middle-order spots in a full-strength India side.It’s harder to choose between the remaining four for the other slot. Samson and the uncapped Tripathi bring similar attributes. Both are known for their ability, and willingness, to go hard at the bowling early in their innings, and both are equally good at home against pace and spin, with Samson boasting particularly impressive strike-rate numbers.Hooda, meanwhile, earned his call-up thanks to a consistent run of form at No. 3 for Lucknow Super Giants, and apart from clean striking over extra-cover also brings the ability to bowl offspin. India might find this useful, with their other spinners turning their stock ball in the other direction (though that only holds true if you consider the legbreak to be Ravi Bishnoi’s stock ball and not the wrong’un).3:43

Can Umran Malik be a part of India’s T20 World Cup plans?

Venkatesh seems the unlikeliest of the five to bat at Nos. 3 or 4, given that he’s usually been used either as opener or finisher, but his left-handedness – an ingredient India otherwise lack in the middle order in Pant’s absence – gives him a valuable point of difference.The team management, however, probably views Venkatesh as a back-up to Hardik rather than a top-four option. With Hardik captaining the side, Venkatesh may only get his chance if India decide to go with two seam-bowling allrounders in Irish conditions and leave out Axar Patel, the spin-bowling allrounder.Who’s the wicketkeeper?

India’s squad contains three keepers in Dinesh Karthik, Ishan Kishan and Samson. With regular keeper Pant absent, the choice of who takes the big gloves will probably hinge less on pure keeping skills than on who of the three contenders is likeliest to have a settled place in the XI. This probably rules out Samson, who wasn’t part of the squad for the series against South Africa, and who is one of numerous contenders vying for limited space in the upper middle order.When all the regulars return to the T20I set-up, Karthik is probably the only one of the three who will remain in the first-choice XI, given how he’s pushed himself to the front of the queue to play the finisher’s role. Kishan will probably remain the back-up opener behind Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, even though he scored more runs than anyone else on either side during the South Africa series.The clearest clue to the identity of India’s wicketkeeper in Ireland came in the BCCI release that announced the squad for the tour. There may have been three keepers in the squad, but only Karthik had “(wicket-keeper)” next to his name.1:28

Jaffer: Arshdeep should be considered for selection against Ireland

Will Arshdeep and Malik finally get their chance?

The call-ups of the left-arm death-bowling specialist Arshdeep Singh and the scarily fast middle-overs enforcer Umran Malik were the most headline-worthy selections when India announced their squad to face South Africa, but neither got a game in that series. It made sense for the team management to stick to their first-choice bowling attack given the way the series went, with India having to come back from 2-0 down, but now, perhaps, could be the time for a few experiments.Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel are probably already sure-shot selections for the T20 World Cup later this year, fitness permitting, as is Yuzvendra Chahal on the spin front. India could perhaps rest the three of them at different points during the series, and test out Arshdeep, Malik and Bishnoi. This series might represent India’s best opportunity to test out their skills in unfamiliar conditions, with both quicks uncapped and Bishnoi yet to play international cricket away from home.

It’s a tactic that the pacers have loved using in IPL 2022. Find out which bowlers have been the most successful, and which batters have struggled

ESPNcricinfo stats team, Illustration by Kshiraja K18-May-2022ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Fitness issues, little game time and lack of form have affected these players in recent times

Deivarayan Muthu30-Aug-2022Evin Lewis (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots)
Lewis didn’t appear for the fitness test that had been arranged for him by Cricket West Indies (CWI) during his IPL stint with Lucknow Super Giants, according to Haynes. Lewis has since got gigs in the Lanka Premier League (Jaffna Kings) and T10 league (Bangla Tigers) and on Sunday, he captained St Kitts and Nevis Patriots to the inaugural men’s 6ixty title. With Chris Gayle making himself unavailable for CPL 2022, Patriots will look up to Lewis for the opening salvos. He hasn’t played for West Indies since the 2021 T20 World Cup and needs a bumper CPL season to force his way into the T20I side for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.Related

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Fabian Allen (Jamaica Tallawahs)
Allen has made himself available for national selection ahead of the T20 World Cup following a statement about his father’s death. He had declined a central contract with West Indies earlier this year and had taken a break during the international home season. Allen had marked his return to competitive cricket with a 33-ball 82 not out – the highest individual score in the men’s 6ixty – and finished as the tournament’s highest run-scorer. All up, Allen smashed 14 sixes in the 6ixty; only Andre Russell (15) hit more sixes. If he can press on further in the CPL, Allen has a chance to return to the T20I XI as the spin-bowling allrounder.Will Roston Chase end up being one of West Indies’ spin-bowling allrounders for the T20 World Cup?•Getty ImagesRoston Chase (St Lucia Kings)
Chase is another player vying for the spin-bowling allrounder’s spot for the T20 World Cup. He is recovering from injury, though, and has not played competitive cricket since turning out for WICB XI against the touring Bangladesh side in a three-day fixture in June.He was picked as West Indies’ anchor for the 2021 T20 World Cup, but form and fitness issues pulled him down the pecking order. With Kings letting go of Obed McCoy, Keemo Paul and Rahkeem Cornwall, they would also want more from Chase with the ball in conditions that could aid the slower bowlers.Sheldon Cottrell (St Kitts and Nevis Patriots)
Cottrell is another player who is working his way back from injury and hoping to prove his fitness in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup. Like Chase, Cottrell missed the 6ixty and has dropped down the pecking order, with McCoy establishing himself as West Indies’ frontline left-arm seamer during the home season. While McCoy can hit speeds north of 145kph and also cut it down with his collection of variations, he isn’t a genuine swing bowler like Cottrell, and not as useful in powerplays.Oshane Thomas’ fitness and form have taken a hit but he can be a handful with his height•Getty ImagesOshane Thomas (Barbados Royals)
When on song, Thomas can consistently hit speeds above 140kph and can also generate extra bounce with his tall frame. He was a potent force for West Indies when they ran through Pakistan in the 50-over World Cup in 2019, but fitness issues have since seen him fade away. Thomas has played just 15 white-ball internationals since that ODI World Cup and has not played a T20 game since December 2021. He will have to compete with Alzarri Joseph for one of the fast bowlers’ slots in the West Indies side.Andre Fletcher (St Kitts and Nevis Patriots)
The self-styled ‘Spiceman’ was a notable omission in West Indies’ recent white-ball squads, with the selectors leaning towards Shamarh Brooks, who is more of a Test and ODI batter, as the back-up opener and Devon Thomas as the back-up keeper. Fletcher is set to open with Lewis for his new franchise Patriots and recently also won a deal with Mumbai Emirates in the UAE’s ILT20. Fletcher has also had a stint in the BBL with Melbourne Stars and although that didn’t go too well, he appears to be a better option than Brooks or Devon Thomas.Hayden Walsh Jr (Barbados Royals)
Akeal Hosein has established himself as West Indies’ frontline fingerspinner – with or without Sunil Narine – but there are questions over legspinner Walsh’s potency (or the lack thereof). During the home series against India and New Zealand, Walsh struggled for control and often let the opposition batters hit with the wind. Walsh’s wrong’un, however, can be deceptive as it skids off the pitch and despite his patchy form, it is quite hard to see a side travel to Australia for the T20 World Cup without a wristspinner. In 2019, it was the CPL that propelled Walsh into the international spotlight. He now returns to the scene of his emergence in his quest to relaunch his international career.