The quick, who has some nifty tricks up his sleeve, is four strikes away from 100 Test wickets at home

Karthik Krishnaswamy02-Mar-2021It won’t be as big a landmark as the ones Ishant Sharma and R Ashwin have brought up earlier in the series, but at some point during the fourth Test in Ahmedabad, another India bowler could reach a significant milestone.Umesh Yadav is fit again after injuring his calf in Australia, and he could be back in action during the fourth Test, with Jasprit Bumrah sitting out for personal reasons. If he plays, and if he picks up four wickets, Yadav will become only the fifth India fast bowler to pick up 100 wickets at home. If he gets there, he’ll also have picked up his 150th Test wicket along the way.That ratio is instructive, and it defines Yadav’s Test career. Out of India’s six most prolific fast bowlers, no one has taken a greater proportion of their wickets at home.

The toss became crucial on a surface that started out sticky before flattening out considerably

Sidharth Monga02-Oct-20214:55

Dasgupta: Gaikwad shows that this format is not just for power-hitters

When a side wins so comfortably after conceding a century to an opposition batter, the first thing you tend to do is look at that hundred with suspicion. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s came up in 60 balls, off the last ball of the innings. While batting first in the IPL, there have been 11 innings lasting 60 balls or longer and worth between 100 and 105. Eight of them, including Gaikwad’s, have come in defeats.Gaikwad’s innings, though, was not the problem on the night. It was a night on which the first 10 overs of the match produced just 63 runs, and the next 27.3 went for 316 at 11.5 an over. Gaikwad’s first 50 took 43 balls, the next 51 came in 17. All of a sudden you weren’t thinking of the field settings each time someone hit the ball in the air. This was a pitch different to what has been on display so far this season: everything was travelling with the ball beginning to skid onto the bat.Watch the IPL on ESPN+

Sign up for ESPN+ and catch all the action from the IPL live in the US. Match highlights of Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals is available here in English, and here in Hindi (US only).

It was one of those unfortunate things that can happen in T20: you get put in on a slightly sticky pitch, the dew then settles in in about 10 overs, and the ball starts to come on nicely. In a contest as short as a T20 match, even a period of five overs before the pitch settles down can prove critical. MS Dhoni, Sanju Samson, Gaikwad and Stephen Fleming all said that was the case. When you are put in on such a pitch, the best way to be competitive is to post an above-par score, which, according to Dhoni, would have been close to 250 here.”My observations were that as the dew settled, the pitch just got better and better,” the Super Kings’ coach Fleming said. “The second half of our innings showed that as well. Initially there was a bit of stickiness so the ball just sat a little bit. Once the dew settled, it became an absolute road. Which is quite different to any other pitches we have played on so far. All games have been sort of 130-150.”The Super Kings have already qualified for the playoffs and look favourites to end up in the top two, which means the ideal response from them would be to forget such a match and move on. However, this is something that can happen in a knockout game too.If an identical match were to happen in identical conditions, Dhoni doesn’t believe it would be possible to set a target of more than 190 or 200. Dhoni said his openers have been really good at assessing the conditions, and while the idea is to prevent over-attacking and losing too many wickets early, this wasn’t a case of a hangover from earlier slow pitches and thus aiming too low.Ruturaj Gaikwad’s first 50 came in 43 balls, and his next 51 in just 17, but the difference wasn’t just about intent•BCCIWhat a side can change when they lose such a bad toss is either take that over-attacking route, which is a risk, or, as Dhoni would want, be smarter with the ball. In their ideal XI, Super Kings would have Dwayne Bravo and Deepak Chahar, who were rested against the Royals and should make a difference when they return, but Dhoni and Fleming would like to see better thinking from the bowlers when caught in another onslaught.”The wicket changed quite a bit,” Dhoni said when asked how much he missed Chahar and Bravo. “Both of them are quite experienced, but I felt their batters put us under pressure. What we could have done slightly better was maybe use the dimensions of the field. Or put fielders where you would like to bowl, make them go over the [boundary] fielders rather than go over mid-off or short cover.”Fleming echoed the sentiment. “It is not a bad thing to have a high-scoring game like this and be tested,” Fleming said. “It gives you some really good coaching points and improvement points. One of them is how to absorb an onslaught like that. It was spectacular and it was great play. The only criticism would probably be our adjustments were not as quick as they needed to be.”

In their first time at an ICC world event, PNG are looking to triumph over adversity and a poor run of results

Peter Della Penna16-Oct-2021On the eve of their maiden appearance at a major ICC senior level global tournament, Papua New Guinea appear to be a far cry from the team that in 2019 romped to the final of the qualifiers for the current World Cup to secure one of the six qualifying berths on offer. This September, in their first international matches since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, they have lost ten straight games, eight ODIs and two T20Is (12 games, if you count two unofficial World Cup warm-up matches against Ireland and Sri Lanka).But if you look at it with the glass-half-full optimism of some members of the team set-up, this is nothing but the best kind of déjà vu. PNG lost eight matches heading into the start of the global qualifier in 2019 before suddenly flipping a switch for the first match of that event and then stringing together five wins in six matches. Head coach Carl Sandri is taking his inspiration from baseball.Related

Well-prepped Oman primed to usher in new era against first-timers PNG

Assad Vala wants PNG to become World Cup regulars

The Barramundis' big break (2014)

Papua New Guinea: How many Aminis?

“You know the doco?” he says, referring to the film chronicling the Boston Red Sox’s historic comeback from 3-0 down to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series in 2004 to win that series, before defeating the St. Louis Cardinals for Boston’s first World Series title since 1918. “This will be our three days in October.”PNG only needs three good days in October to advance to the main phase of the T20 World Cup. But those three days seemed a long way off after they spent 676 days between international matches due to the pandemic.Despite not having any cricket on the field, there was still some activity off of it. Head coach Joe Dawes stepped down last March, saying he wanted to spend more time closer to family in Australia.There has been something of an Australia and New Zealand coaching pipeline to PNG over the years. Andy Bichel, Peter Anderson, Dipak Patel, Jason Gillespie and Dawes have all featured in coaching roles. Cricket PNG CEO Greg Campbell – who has been with the organisation wearing numerous hats since 2009 – is an Australian import too. And the theme continued with the appointment of Sandri, who had a very brief Big Bash career with Sydney Thunder in 2013 but is better known in the Associate scene as a match-winner for Italy, having made his debut at the 2012 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE.Carl Sandri (extreme left) was appointed team coach in March 2021•ICC/Getty ImagesIt was there that he got his first taste of the fighting spirit of PNG’s cricket culture, when Italy wound up on the wrong side of a 12-run loss chasing 119.”We thought we were home and hosed,” Sandri said. “Not enough runs for them and we thought we’d walk that in. Michael Di Venuto was playing that game as well, so we thought we had a team to get the job done. Then as soon as you’re out there in the heat of the battle, the passion and the spirit of them all, you couldn’t hit a ball in a gap without five of them running at it. There was not an easy run to be had out there.”That’s what we’re looking for now in our group. I don’t think I’ve seen as many teams play as well as a team as we do in that circumstance.The majority of the PNG squad is from Hanuabada Village, a conclave on the western side of the capital, Port Moresby. “Having that, growing up together, playing together and spending all that time representing their country, that’s the strength that they have,” Sandri says. “You could feel that at the time [in 2012] and it can still be felt. You can feel it in the opposition [thinking] that when the team is together, they’re gonna be hard to beat. Being involved in that and being part of the Barras family is an amazing experience.”In the rare event that a player is from outside Hanuabada, as is the case with Chad Soper, who was born in Port Moresby but spent a significant chunk of his youth living and playing his developmental cricket in New South Wales, or the captain, Assad Vala, who grew up three and a half hours outside of Port Moresby, committing to a full-time cricket contract means moving to where all the action is. The closeness helps breed a zestful joy for the game that, as Sandri alluded to, most often comes out in their fielding.”Whatever we do, we just smile,” Vala says when asked what he thinks will stand out to people who will be watching PNG play for the first time at a World Cup this Sunday. “We love playing the game. The way we play the game is different. The way we celebrate wickets and the way we run around is something different from all other countries because we love celebrating and we love representing our country.”Hanuabada Village is the spiritual home of PNG cricket. Most members of the national team have emerged from the neighbourhood•Chris Hyde/Getty ImagesPNG pride themselves on their fielding, which has a reputation as the best in the Associate world, and at times could be in the conversation as the best in the world period. But their rustiness has put a dent in that reputation in recent times. While USA’s Jaskaran Malhotra made headlines for hitting six sixes in the 50th over to raise 173 not out against PNG in an ODI in early September, it was partly courtesy of PNG having dropped him four times, including twice before he passed 20. Campbell says that consistency is the one area where PNG have struggled over the years, especially after prolonged layoffs, but he feels he is seeing encouraging signs in their more recent fixtures, to indicate better results are around the corner.”The last couple of weeks I see a difference,” Campbell says. “While we were in Oman, the hotel had an amphitheatre. We went and watched and the boys laughed about it and said it was good motivation.”You just don’t know with this group. They can just turn up and do brilliant things and you think, ‘How did that happen?’ We haven’t seen it quite to that potential yet, but it’s coming.”I’ve seen these guys play for 12 years and deep down, I knew we’d struggle initially. If you’re not playing cricket, you don’t get any better. But they’re getting better and that’s why I’m optimistic. The more they’re playing the game, the more they’re starting to remember and get into gear. It’s a bit like an old steam train that takes a long time to get going but once you play consistent cricket with them, they start picking up. Hopefully it happens in this World Cup.”Regardless of whether or not it comes in the form of victories, Campbell says the country’s maiden appearance in a world event is almost certain to be transformational for the sport in a country of nine million. Their grassroots programmes have become stronger, he says, since a pair of key events in the middle of the last decade. PNG secured ODI status for the first time with a top-four finish at the 2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand. The extra ICC funding secured in the wake of that achievement helped put their players on full-time contracts, and currently there are a total of 39 fully contracted players (16 men, 13 women and ten Under-19s).PNG made their first T20 World Cup on the back of a five-win streak in the 2019 Qualifiers, losing only a single match, to Scotland•International Cricket CouncilFollowing their profitable hosting of the 2015 ICC World Cup, Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket jointly donated A$200,000 (about US$150,000) to Cricket PNG for infrastructure development. That was matched by another A$200,000 from the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby. It sparked a plan to build 48 synthetic wickets around PNG, in particular for new wickets outside of Port Moresby, where Amini Park holds the only turf wicket in the country. Of the 35 wickets constructed so far, two have been built in Lae, the city with the second biggest population in the country, and a pair in Popondetta, a city of approximately 50,000 people that has been a focal point for women’s recruitment.Campbell says that currently there are 300,000 children playing cricket in the country through PNG’s introductory and school programme initiatives, but that the exposure from the World Cup could see that nearly double in the space of five years. Cricket PNG has negotiated a discounted rate with Digicel, the country’s TV rights holder, to make World Cup viewing access more affordable. Campbell says viewing parties on big-screen TVs are being organised in Hanuabada.All of this offers a contrast to the dark times the team has experienced recently, not just in terms of their results. In the span of less than 48 hours last week, three players on the team had one of their parents die: Nosaina Pokana’s father, and Kiplin Doriga’s and CJ Amini’s mothers. Amini’s mother was herself a former national women’s team captain. If that sounds alarming, sadly it is not entirely unusual in PNG cricket. PNG Women’s squad member Kopi John died at 26 in the summer of 2019 after contracting tuberculosis. Many other players over the last decade have had parents die while on tour.”We actually spoke about this before they left,” Campbell says. “In the current [Covid] climate, that might happen. In my 12 years, it does happen a little bit in PNG. I’ve been away on Under-19 tours where parents have died and you deal with it. So we spoke about that – the possibility that if it happened, they wouldn’t be able to get home. We’re not sure it was Covid. Some of them said their parents had some underlying factors, but it was a big shock, having three in the space of a day and a half.”They’re a close-knit group. Having [former PNG player and current assistant coach] John Ovia on board and a bit of my experience in 12 years, sitting with CJ [Amini] for six or seven hours that night. There wasn’t a lot of conversation but when he wanted to talk, I was there. They watched the funerals last week via Zoom.”The third generation of his family to play cricket for Papua New Guinea, Charles Amini lost his mother, herself a former national team captain, recently•Michael Steele/ICC/Getty ImagesIf the bereavements weren’t enough adversity, their training camp in Oman was disrupted by Tropical Cyclone Shaheen last week, which forced PNG to evacuate their team hotel for 48 hours with nothing but “the clothes on our backs”, according to Campbell.Through it all, they have kept smiles on their faces. You’d never know that this is a team coming off ten straight losses and a trio of family deaths in the squad, judging by the way Vala, Sandri and Campbell have been grinning from ear to ear through their media interactions in the last week, as they tried to find a positive attitude.”If you can harness that in the right way, as they have shown with qualifying for this World Cup, that’s where the challenge is,” Sandri said. “If we can harness that natural ability, the athleticism that they can show, if we can put that and some cricket IQ more consistently, if they can improve that, then their natural athletic ability and talent can match any cricketer I’ve seen.”They’ve had that aura about them. When you’re batting against them, they’re a big family. They’re all over you. The pressure by presence is obvious.”Campbell is hoping the players continue to project that on-field family culture of unity and optimism – not to mention world-class fielding and dynamic skills – to the TV cameras broadcasting the tournament around the world when PNG take the field at Al Amerat against co-hosts Oman this weekend. If they can generate a few wins in the rest of group play, which includes matches against Scotland and Bangladesh, they’ll have a bigger opportunity to show even more viewers what they’re made of, in the next phase of the tournament.”I’d love them to play their flamboyant way,” Campbell says. “To express themselves, show their natural ability, so people sit back at home and say, ‘Maybe we should take more notice of PNG. I’m going to watch these guys moving forward.'”These guys are pretty good from where they come from. They love the game. They play it a different way than what we’ve seen and they play for enjoyment. That’s it. They love the game.”

There is intrigue in the way the BCCI has handled and communicated the removal of Kohli, but that is not new with the board

Sidharth Monga09-Dec-2021India once had a captain, Player A. One of his main batters, Player B, pulled out of a big match at the last moment. India lost the match. Player A, among India’s greatest of all time, then found out from a journalist that he was being sacked as captain. “Whom are they giving it to?” Player A asked, and lost it when told that Player B was going to be the new captain.We haven’t reached that kind of suspected palace intrigue, but it is just a reminder to not get fooled by the MS Dhoni-N Srinivasan blind faith: India’s captaincy has always been a precarious job. You get absolute power when in the job, but you can be dumped just as unceremoniously. It used to be through a journalist earlier – even till the time of Sachin Tendulkar – and it is one line of a postscript in a press release about something else these days.Let us not mistake it: intrigue there is aplenty. India have essentially removed – statistically – one of the most successful captains in ODI cricket, a 33-year-old, who openly and calculatedly made public his desire to keep captaining India in ODIs when he gave up the T20I leadership three months back. The change is not made with long-term future in mind: in fact, the new captain is a year-and-a-half older.Related

• Kohli: Was told I wouldn't be ODI captain hour-and-a-half before SA Test squad was announced

• Rohit: 'There was clear grit and determination to win every game' under Kohli's captaincy

• Rohit Sharma: I want middle order to prepare for '10 for 3' situations

• Sourav Ganguly: 'Had requested Virat not to step down as T20I captain'

• Rohit replaces Kohli as ODI captain, takes over from Rahane as Test vice-captain

It is hard to think of an India captain who achieved full-time captaincy for the first time when older than Rohit Sharma’s 34-and-a-half. Anil Kumble got it at 37, but he was clearly a stop-gap as MS Dhoni found his bearings as the limited-overs captain. That appointment was necessitated by Rahul Dravid’s resignation; this one has been initiated by the BCCI.Any captaincy change in Indian cricket has to be ratified by the board president. So right now, the selectors and the BCCI president clearly believe there is a better captain in Indian cricket than the one under whom India won five matches for every two they lost and under whom they went to the final and the semi-final of the two world events they took part in.However, it is possible too that the selectors and the BCCI have looked beyond the record. Apart from the T20 World Cups, which are a tough format, you expect any Indian team – given the quality of any given side – to make the knockouts of world events because they are designed to discourage upsets. Having said that, it can’t be ignored that India did so comprehensively.Under Virat Kohli, India took the bold step of doing away with two fingerspinners, two of India’s biggest match-winners in the years leading up to it, but they were late to it: India were the only side in the 2017 Champions Trophy without a wristspinner. Now if it was the selectors who didn’t yield or if it was the team management that was caught napping we will probably never know.During the 2019 World Cup, India found themselves with a back-up allrounder with no experience of anchoring ODI innings and then a wicketkeeper-batter whom they didn’t originally want•IDI via Getty ImagesThe 2019 World Cup was more disappointing. At the start of 2018, Ajinkya Rahane was supposed to be India’s No. 4 despite Dhoni’s astute assessment that he struggles once the field is spread and the ball is old. Then Ambati Rayudu came in and proved himself only to be dropped after one ordinary series right before the World Cup. During the event, India found themselves with a back-up allrounder with no prior experience of anchoring ODI innings and then a wicketkeeper-batter whom they didn’t originally want at the World Cup suddenly playing that pivotal role. It was just their luck that it came down to the middle order in a big match.Of course, the selectors and the BCCI need not make any such explanations because Kohli all but decided his fate by giving up the T20I captaincy. It makes more sense to have one man leading both the limited-overs sides than two. It is in that format that Kohli was more vulnerable, given his IPL record and lack of role clarity in the national side. Rohit’s sides have had clearer roles and plans for its players. He is not shy to use data inputs. Kohli runs on emotion; Rohit seeks to take emotion out of it.Yet if these were the arguments, why it took the BCCI two-and-a-half years after the 2019 World Cup is anybody’s guess. Kohli’s lack of runs, for one, makes this call easier and less unpopular. A 2012 Yuvraj Singh advert comes too close to reality: “Till the bat talks, the world is yours.” It was only when Dhoni was struggling with the bat that he received the tap on his shoulder in 2017 and jumped before being pushed. But Kohli, possibly, still believed in himself as the ODI captain and refused to jump.It is never not uncomfortable, though. It is clear now that Kohli didn’t want to move on, which always makes it a little awkward for the new captain for wanting the job and now having to lead the former leader. It is not unnatural either. These are ambitious, competitive men who have come this far because they haven’t acknowledged self-doubt. The success of the team environment that Kohli is proud of building will lie in how maturely they move on from here. That yes, we respect each other’s ambitions, that it is perfectly natural and that we are mature enough to not carry on with this.Coach Dravid has previously been caught in similar crosshairs when the BCCI last sacked an India captain. This is different. Kohli still has the Test captaincy. Kohli still has the record and the fitness. There is no coach whom players see as a threat. Kohli the captain has backed Rohit the batter; there is no reason to suspect Rohit the captain doesn’t feel the same about Kohli the batter. Although purely from the outside, it has always seemed that Kohli and Rohit are one similar batter too many for a T20 top three.Most importantly, India remain a highly successful side in all formats never mind the T20 World Cup exit. Equally importantly, this is done well in time for Rohit to get a certain number of games in so that he can build his own side for the 2023 World Cup. It also gives Kohli more time to work on his batting. It is not appreciated nearly enough how taxing it can be to captain India in three formats and also an IPL side.Yet this is a transition that needs to be handled delicately, but not one that Dravid, Kohli and Rohit can’t see through.

Key numbers from his highly successful stint as India Test captain

Gaurav Sundararaman15-Jan-2022Virat Kohli stepped down as India’s Test captain a day after the series loss against South Africa, but he leaves a rich legacy behind. Kohli is by far India’s most successful Test captain, winning 40 out of 68 Tests. Let us look at some key numbers from his captaincy tenure.ESPNcricinfo LtdIndia’s most successful Test captain
Kohli finishes as India’s most successful captain. He won 40 matches, which is 13 more than MS Dhoni. Among international captains, only Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh have had more Test wins than Kohli.Kohli captained India in 25 series. He won 18, lost six and drew one (a washout against Bangladesh).At home, Kohli’s team was very hard to beat. He did not lose or draw a single home Test series as captain. No other India captain who led in multiple series has such a stellar record at home. Out of the 11 Test series in which he led at home, Kohli lost just two matches. Not only did they win, Kohli’s team was dominant; India under Kohli at home won nine Tests by an innings and nine Tests by over 150 runs.ESPNcricinfo LtdSuccess away from home
Under Kohli, India won 16 away Tests – the most for India, ahead of Saurav Ganguly who had won 11. Kohli was the first Asian captain to win a series in Australia. Under Kohli, India won 3-0 in Sri Lanka in 2017, 2-1 in Australia in 2018-19, and beat West Indies away twice 2-0. Earlier this year they left England with a 2-1 lead in the series that was put on hold due to Covid-19 complications with one Test to go. In SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries, Kohli has won seven tests. The next best for an Indian captain in these countries is just three wins. In fact, among all Asian captains Kohli is on top. Wasim Akram and Javed Miandad led Pakistan to four Test wins in SENA countries.ESPNcricinfo LtdKohli the batter
A lot of batters have had captaincy affect their batting, but Kohli operated at a different level soon after he got the captaincy. In his first match as captain, Kohli made twin centuries in Adelaide against Australia, albeit in a losing cause. Overall Kohli made 20 centuries and 18 fifties as captain. Only Graeme Smith has scored more Test centuries as captain.Kohli scored 5864 runs and averaged 54.80 as captain. Kohli’s seven double-centuries as captain is also the highest in Tests.As captain, Kohli has a century in all the countries in which he has played at least two Tests, barring New Zealand. Kohli finishes his captaincy stint with 41 international centuries across formats – joint-highest with Ricky Ponting.ESPNcricinfo LtdBowlers’ captain
Under Kohli, India’s bowlers flourished. Under him, away from home, India took 20 wickets on 22 occasions out of a possible 35.Since 1990, no Indian team other than Kohli’s has had a bowling average of less than 30 and a bowling strike rate of below 60. Kohli’s bowlers struck every 52 deliveries and averaged just 25 runs per dismissal. In comparison, the Australia bowlers under Ricky Ponting averaged 29.9 and struck once every 58 deliveries.Six bowlers picked up in excess of 100 Test wickets under Kohli, with Ashwin topping the list with 293 from 55 matches. Only Dale Steyn with 347 wickets under Graeme Smith has more.

The allrounder adds much needed heft to India’s batting down the order

Shiva Jayaraman05-Mar-2022Ravindra Jadeja’s rise as a batter in Tests couldn’t have come at a better time, for in the recent past India have been lacking the middle-order heft that they have been used to. While his 175* in Mohali came with the team in relative comfort, Jadeja has often provided much needed padding that India’s batting has required, even in Tests at home.In terms of overall numbers, Jadeja has been one of the key batters for India in the last five years: he has scored 1441 runs at an average of 46.48. With a cut-off as low as 300 runs scored by any batter in this period, only Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli average higher. Naturally, for someone batting at No. 6 and 7 largely, the average is expected to get a boost because of a higher number of unbeaten innings. What stands out in Jadeja’s case, however, is the number of fifty-plus scores he has made batting largely with the lower order. In 43 innings, he has crossed 50 on 14 occasions – once every 3.07 innings on average. That’s just a fraction lower than how frequently Rohit (13 in 39 innings) and Kohli (25 in 75 innings) have managed in the last-five years.

Warner’s first-ball duck needed someone to step up early, and Marsh did that for 18 overs

Sidharth Monga16-May-2022The match is about to start. Sarfaraz Khan has marked the guard, Mayank Agarwal has set the field, and then David Warner realises it is Liam Livingstone bowling the first over. So Warner decides he will take first strike, Agarwal flips the field again, and finally the first ball is sent down. It is a wide offbreak, Warner goes after it, the ball turns and jumps, and he is out first ball.Is Warner cursing himself for changing things up at the last minute? What is Mitchell Marsh thinking when he crosses Warner? How is he going to react to the situation? His side has lost the toss, they have to quickly assess the conditions with their key batter gone first ball and then go about setting a dew-proof total in what is practically a must-win match. There isn’t much time to do all that.It took Marsh four balls to assess the conditions and the situation, and then launch a counterattack on Kagiso Rabada, which included successive sixes down the ground. However, equally impressive was how he retreated after that attack because first Sarfaraz got on a roll and then the Punjab Kings spinners bowled well on a helpful pitch.Related

Feature: Mitchell Marsh, the comeback king

Marsh, Thakur, spin duo lift Capitals to fourth spot

What do Capitals, Royal Challengers, Knight Riders, Punjab Kings and Sunrisers need to do to qualify

“Get as many as I get in the powerplay before it starts turning,” Marsh, who top-scored with 63, told Star Sports when asked what his reading of the conditions was. “I think in the last 18 months or so I have had that mentality in the powerplay. It was a really good partnership with Sarfaraz. He played some amazing shots. Would have been nice to get out of the powerplay one down and then we probably could have kept going. But our innings was sort of stop-start, stop-start with the wickets.”Marsh ticked three boxes in the powerplay itself. He read the conditions perfectly, was selfless in starting a counterattack, but then took on the responsibility of batting through once he saw the younger batter strike well and then get out just before the powerplay ended.This was only the seventh time that Marsh had played 48 or more balls in a T20 innings. Barring a 100-run chase in which you can afford to bat slowly, this was his slowest innings of such a length.2:33

Manjrekar on Sarfaraz’s performance alongside Marsh

There’s a reason why no big hitter is considered a complete performer until he does it in the second half of an IPL season where pitches begin to slow down and the spinners start dominating proceedings. It shows in Marsh’s numbers that he has not been tested much on that front, but also over the last 18 months or so he has played a lot of T20 cricket in these conditions, especially when losing in Bangladesh and in the West Indies just before the World Cup that they won in the UAE.That experience has helped turn Marsh, who traditionally prefers pace on the ball, into a more complete T20 batter, who might still not be great at dominating spin but someone who can target his bowlers better, and then play out the others. Twenty overs is not a lot of time and can induce panic if you play a few dots, which is kind of what happened with the Kings batters in the chase and they didn’t even give themselves a chance for when the dew set in for the last eight overs of the chase.In his resurrection as a T20 batter, Marsh has played that final-winning innings, has scored a Big Bash hundred, and won Capitals the last match, but the most impressive thing has been his turnaround as a player of spin. Before Australia turned him into a No. 3 in July 2021, Marsh had faced 692 balls of spin for a strike rate of just 101.58. Since the promotion up the order, though, Marsh has gone 123.21 per hundred balls of spin, which is quite acceptable for someone who scores at 144.53 against pace.These are not sensational numbers by themselves but serviceable stats for an anchor. Add to them his ability to read then conditions, know when to strike and dovetail with his batting partners, and you have a solid T20 batter. Now he is even doing it in the second half of the IPL, which calls for high levels of precision from those setting up to play long innings.

New captain endures tough baptism as whirlwind itinerary leaves England in a spin

Vithushan Ehantharajah25-Jul-2022Jos Buttler had his backpack on when he walked into Sunday’s press conference. Like an exchange student on the London Underground, he was not entirely sure where he needed to be next but knew he had to get there in a hurry.It’s been quite the whirlwind for England’s new white-ball captain. No sooner had he come back from a tour of Amsterdam, he was at Edgbaston during the India Test match at the start of July to perform his first media engagements following Eoin Morgan’s impromptu retirement. Later that week he began the first of 12 white-ball matches in the space of 24 days taking him to Southampton, Birmingham, Nottingham, south London, north London, Manchester, Durham, Manchester again and then, here, Leeds. By this time next week, he’ll have done Bristol, Cardiff and Southampton once more. He’ll have ticked off so many cities, you may as well call him Greyhound.One day he’ll get home, but even when he does take his shoes off and grip his toes into a familiar floor, his mind will be trying to untangle the last month like wire headphones from a pocket of his mind. And among the nagging will be what to make of this ODI side.All told, it’s not a pressing matter, with a T20 World Cup far sooner than the 50-over one exactly a year later, in October 2023. But it’ll be there, dripping like a faulty tap, bearable for now but eventually needing to be addressed, for his own peace of mind at least.It might help that this ODI series with South Africa was a little too abstract. A Proteas-instigated blowout in baking heat in the first, a 29-over haymaker counter in the second, before this third and deciding fixture was washed out inside 28 overs.Throwing back a little further to the 2-1 defeat to India helps add some meat to the bones of any analysis. But not necessarily in a good way. A side whose superpower was big scores only made it past 270 once – in that opening defeat by 62 runs to South Africa. Only Jonny Bairstow averaged more than 27 (27.20) with just three fifty-plus scores shared among him, Joe Root and Buttler.”I don’t want to sound like a broken record,” Buttler began when pushed on what he had learned from the five completed ODIs, seemingly bored with himself when talking about the batting blunders. “But it’s a strength of ours for a long time, and we haven’t quite lived up to the standards that we know we can.”There is some mitigation to that. The pitches, to borrow a phrase Root used after the defeat at Durham, have been “unusual white-ball wickets”. The modern English game has been grooved on flat decks, so it was no surprise to see the tyres struggle when this juggernaut of a top six was taken off-road. “It’s been conducive to a very different kind of cricket,” said Root. “I prefer to face a red ball in the last series [against New Zealand and India] rather than the white ball. They seem to be doing all sorts.”Related

• Ben Stokes' farewell casts peculiar shadow as South Africa join the ODI roadshow

• Quinton de Kock sparkles before the rain as series ends in washout

• Quinton de Kock: 'It's going to start being tough for players – three formats is a lot'

• Jos Buttler calls for greater intensity despite schedule cramping England's plans

• Eoin Morgan announces England retirement

Good batters can adjust, but England’s good ones couldn’t. And were it not for four blockbuster chases in the Test matches leading into this period, this might have been a line about batters simply not having the wares to tailor their aggression to a bit of sideways movement.The only standout performer has been Reece Topley, and maybe that’s not a coincidence given where he is in his career. A series that was made to feel like an afterthought was only likely to be treated that way subconsciously by some, whether that was those with Test cricket on their mind or others trying to spread their energy levels accordingly.Topley, however, is as strong, hungry and in form as he ever has been. The 11 wickets across five matches – at 12, and an economy rate of 4.28 across 30.5 overs – were mostly prime cuts: notably Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma twice each, including getting them both in the career-best six for 24 at Lord’s.Buttler described Topley as a “great find” before correcting himself given the 28-year-old has been around the set-up since 2015, even making the squad to India for the T20 World Cup six years ago. Topley probably won’t mind if people had forgotten he was part of the 2016 tournament given his collective figures of 4.1 overs, one for 55 across the group matches against West Indies and South Africa. Even given the injuries that followed, it was a period that changed him going forward. He learned not to cloud his mind with too many thoughts or outside noise, and in turn has never been more diligent in his preparation and more believing in his output.Evidently, England are struggling to replicate their pre-2019 form, and don’t even look like a facsimile of the dominant group they were when losing just two one-day series in the four years prior to earning their tag as World Champions. And the real fear is the recent defeats, while often pinpointing weakness and encouraging improvement, are so late in the cycle that only so much can be done.It’s important to say they have not sleepwalked into this position, but rather have been frogmarched by the pandemic. The separate Covid squads in the 2020 summer, then the Pakistan series in 2021 that required a full line-up change after an outbreak in the first-team group could have highlighted some of the issues around a lack of incision in the attack (ergo, pace) and the need for as much of the regular XI as possible to consistently tick over their 50-over work in order to retain muscle memory.No doubt all this reads like a list of excuses, but that does not make it any less relevant to the current uncertainty. The global apathy to the format, in part because of the schedule and some high-profile detractors, has filtered into the changing room. And because of the T20 World Cup taking most of the focus, so much of the last two weeks is, with all due respect, an irrelevance.Perhaps that right there is the only thing Buttler should heed going forward. The tactics, the personnel are likely to work themselves out. His focus should be on reminding his players – even himself – that ODIs remain a format of substance.

Veteran seamer hell-bent on gold medal after rolling back the years in youthful T20I side

Valkerie Baynes21-Jul-2022″A new start” was how Katherine Brunt felt about her return to a fresh-faced England T20I side, which not only destroyed South Africa with five overs to spare but set down a marker for how they want to play a home Commonwealth Games starting from next week. And she bowled like it.Even at the age of 37, Brunt’s career-best T20I figures of 4 for 15, including her 100th wicket in the format, contained South Africa to 111 for 9 in the first of three matches between the sides at Chelmsford on Monday.Then Sophia Dunkley applied the final flourish with a 39-ball 59 in her first innings as an opener, and with Issy Wong adding a maiden T20I cap to her Test and ODI debuts, there was a youthful feel to England’s cricket, with Maia Bouchier and Bryony Smith also recalled to a new-look XI.Brunt, however, was on hand to offer the wisdom of her 18-year international career, and as she settled back into the set-up after a solitary ODI appearance this summer, she admitted to feeling a new lease of life after the gruelling events of England’s winter.”It does feel like the World Cup and the Ashes were a thousand years ago,” Brunt said. “I honestly feel like, bar this game, I’ve played one game this year. That’s what it feels like because I’ve had such a long build-up.”I’ve just hyped it up a bit much for myself, so it does feel great to be back because it does feel like it’s been quite a while. But with the fresh outlook we’ve got on the squads and the environment, and how we go about stuff, it’s really great too so it genuinely feels like a new start, and I’m having a great time.”Brunt put a major focus on competing at a home Commonwealth Games when she began considering the latter stages of her career and while this match represented her stepping up preparations for it in earnest, her performance belied how she felt.Issy Wong is one of the fresh faces in England’s set-up who has encouraged Brunt to up her game•Getty Images”I genuinely feel like I had a bad day,” Brunt said. “I felt rusty. When I came out at Northants, I was ready to go – fresh body, fresh mind, it was coming out lovely in the nets.”I’ve had a couple of weeks and it’s hard to stay like that, but I definitely got up for this game. I love T20 cricket – it’s short, it’s good on the body, the atmosphere is always brilliant, everybody gets behind it. We just have fun out there. So, even though I felt rusty, I’ll take it. There’s more to come, for sure.”I don’t think anyone’s stopped thinking about the Commonwealth Games since we were told first that we were going to be in the Commonwealth Games. It sounds corny but growing up and watching people in the Olympics, with medals and podiums, I just adored those people and thought they were gods.Related

• Katherine Brunt: 'I've considered retirement constantly' over 'most challenging year of my career'

• Lanning tops T20I batting chart again, Brunt among top three bowlers

• Marizanne Kapp leaves England tour for family reasons, in doubt for Commonwealth Games

• Alice Capsey named in England's Commonwealth Games squad, Tammy Beaumont omitted

• Lisa Keightley defends England's youth policy after Tammy Beaumont's shock omission

“To now be around those people and feel a part of what they’re doing and who they are is, without being too corny, what my dreams were made of and I’m sure the girls think the same. I never ever thought this would happen. I’m so grateful and fortunate at the age I am to be here and still be able to be a part of it. It’s great.”And while seven games lie ahead in the space of just over a fortnight, including the last two matches of this series if England reach the gold-medal match in Birmingham, Brunt said she was “willing to do whatever it takes to play all of those”.”I will certainly not hold back, and I will have that gold medal in mind every time.” she said. “If it means I break at the end of it, I break. But it’s going to take a lot for me to not be there.”Brunt said she was relishing having younger players in the squad – like fellow seamers Wong, 20, the as-yet uncapped left-armer Freya Kemp and allrounder Alice Capsey, who are both 17 – not only to advise but for her to learn from too.”I’ve been waiting for some seamers to come along and be like: ‘Oi, out of here Brunt. You’re too old, it’s my turn’. Now they’re here in abundance, I’m like: ‘Right, I better up my game.’ It brings the best out of me, it definitely brings the best out of them,” Brunt said.”I’d love to think I could help and nurture them to start their careers off with a bit of advice that I’d have never got… I’d love to think I’d give them the stepping stone they need. I am genuinely really excited to see where they can go with it, so we’re fortunate with what we’ve got on the bench, back home, in domestic cricket. The future looks good for England.”