Statement win made possible by batting depth, smart captaincy and international-standard attack

Matt Roller22-Jul-2021Their two pinch-hitters made 8 off 8 between them, England’s in-form fast bowler was limited to five balls with a side injury, and their two world-class wristspinners were missing due to a visa hitch and international duty.And yet the Oval Invincibles swept aside the Manchester Originals in the opening men’s match of the Hundred, defending their near-par total of 145 with relative ease despite their options being severely limited by circumstance. They were among the favourites for this competition but this was a statement win made possible by batting depth, smart captaincy and an international-standard bowling attack.The win was set up by Sam Billings, the Invincibles’ captain and one of England’s most-travelled franchise cricketers who has been an advocate of a city-based tournament to raise the standard of domestic cricket. His innings of 49 off 30 balls – having come in at 32 for 3 – was a perfectly-paced rebuilding job, hitting the gaps against spin on a used, slowish pitch while cutting and pulling well against seam.Perhaps the more impressive element of Billings’ performance was his captaincy, not least after Saqib Mahmood hurt his side while diving at fine leg to stop the 32nd ball of the innings, rendering him unable to bowl again. Billings was one of the England players to test positive for Covid-19 after the third ODI against Sri Lanka and used his self-isolation to devise strategies and plans alongside head coach Tom Moody.Billings was alert to the intricacies of the new rules and largely opted to shuffle his pack: Sam Curran bowled the first 10 balls of the innings, but Reece Topley was the only other bowler to stay on after an initial set of five. His hand was forced by Mahmood’s injury, but he was also proactive in making changes: when Sunil Narine, the best bowler on the night, removed Jos Buttler to bring a second left-hander to the crease, he immediately turned to his part-time offspinner Will Jacks to squeeze in another set of five. “Love this match-up!” Billings shouted from behind the stumps when Carlos Brathwaite came in, facing Nathan Sowter’s legspin, and he managed only seven runs off the six balls he faced from him.Related

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Narine’s success was a vindication of the Invincibles’ decision to pick him as their first draft pick back in October 2019. Narine is one of only three of the first-round picks from that draft still involved at the team that signed them, and bowled with the control and genuine mystery that has made him such an asset across his T20 career.Billings opted against using him in a 10-ball block, instead opting to bring him on against set batters and making them force the pace against him. He had Buttler caught at extra cover when cramping him for room with a sharp offbreak as he backed away to open up the off side, and conceded only 22 runs from his 20 balls. “He’s a phenomenal man,” Billings said. “You don’t want to use all his overs up because a batsman coming in and facing that? It’s as difficult as anything.”But it was in keeping with the evening as a whole that it was the Surrey core in the attack that held the win together. After evidence of the fabled new audience during Wednesday’s women’s fixture, the 18,000-strong crowd in Kennington felt much the same as a usual Blast crowd here, with long queues for the bar and chants of “Don’t Take Me Home” for much of the run chase.And as with many of Surrey’s home Blast games over the last five years, it was the Curran brothers who held the key in the chase. Sam will be a big miss when he joins up with England after Sunday’s London derby and bowled cannily with the new ball and at the death. Hair bleached peroxide-blond, it was no surprise that he was keen to show off his box of tricks, delivering a 56mph slower ball with the final ball of his initial 10, and his dismissal of the set Brathwaite with the 96th ball sealed the win.Tom, meanwhile, had chipped in with a vital 29 off 18 balls at the death from No. 8, adapting to the slowness of the pitch, before filling a Dwayne Bravo-style role with the ball. He was the seventh bowler used and bowled the 10th, 13th, 17th and 19th sets of five: once he has found his groove in this tournament, there may be room for further back-loading, with the playing conditions leaving open the possibility of death specialists’ bowling 20 of the last 25 balls.All told, this was the second night in a row which showed that for all the light-hearted pre-tournament build-up, the Hundred will be taken deadly seriously by those involved. This was a performance straight of the Moody playbook: scrapping up to par then defending it with some breathing space thanks to the strength of his bowling attack, the gameplan that worked so well during Sunrisers Hyderabad’s glory days.The Invincibles’ flexible batting order and recruitment of a bowling attack which saw 80 of their 100 balls bowled by internationals had all the hallmarks of a successful short-form team: it will be a tough ask to live up to their name, but this win showed why they will be among the contenders.

National team’s white-ball success and players’ availability behind influx of Englishmen

Matt Roller04-Dec-2021There was a time when English cricketers spending the winter in Australia could expect to find themselves starting the season in the second grade. Now, they are the hottest commodity available: 15 of the 24 confirmed overseas signings for this year’s Big Bash are Englishmen, all eight teams have at least one in their squad and both Sydney teams have three. England’s domination of last season’s overseas player pool was not a one-off.”I don’t know – I thought the Aussies hated us,” Ben Duckett, whose stint at Brisbane Heat will be his first in the BBL, joked this week when asked how English players had come to dominate the overseas player pool. Availability is the biggest factor, with BBL clubs keen to make signings for the full season and players keen to trade the English winter for Australian sunshine but England’s recent success in limited-overs internationals and unrivalled white-ball depth have also been crucial.”When Australia were the best Test team in the world in the 2000s,” one recruitment insider said, “you’d see their fringe players go to England and play in the County Championship every year. It’s the same dynamic in the Big Bash, but for white-ball cricket.” The cycle is self-reinforcing: England’s success makes their fringe players more attractive signings in overseas leagues, and their fringe players’ exposure to those tournaments creates a pool of players ready for international selection. As demonstrated by a reserve squad’s 3-0 ODI series win against Pakistan this year, there is immense strength in depth.Related

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Liam Livingstone’s breakthrough year in an England shirt is a case in point. In 2019, Livingstone sat down with the ECB to discuss his winter plans and agreed that he would be best served by playing in T20 leagues rather than touring Australia with England Lions. “I’d already played two winters of Lions cricket,” Livingstone explained. “I wanted to go away, get out my comfort zone and learn in these different environments.”The pressure you get as an overseas player is probably like no other and there’s pressure on you to perform, right from game one, wherever you go in the world. It really sets you up better for when you get back to international cricket.” After two dominant seasons with Perth Scorchers, he slotted into England’s T20I side this year and made a 42-ball hundred in his fourth game since returning. Coaches who have worked for counties or Hundred teams have cherry-picked players who they think could follow his lead – or used their contacts for recommendations.Several other players find themselves in a similar position now, hence the involvement of so many Englishmen in not only the BBL, but the Abu Dhabi T10 and the Pakistan Super League too: like Livingstone, Phil Salt and Will Jacks both played in the Big Bash last season and have had excellent T10 campaigns, while Tom Banton, who starred for Brisbane Heat two years ago, will fly from Abu Dhabi to the Lanka Premier League this weekend.Livingstone is proof that Big Bash success provides players with a clear route to selection in T20 internationals. Eoin Morgan regularly cited the competition last winter while talking up James Vince, who made 98 not out and 95 in Sydney Sixers’ two knockout games last season and was a travelling reserve in England’s World Cup squad.James Vince was dominant in last season’s knockout stages•Getty ImagesReece Topley, who will make his BBL debut for Melbourne Renegades next week, said that the tournament will give players “an opportunity… to impress the right people” ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia. Tymal Mills, Saqib Mahmood, Tom Curran, George Garton and Sam Billings will all be in the conversation for selection for England’s squad and could further their respective cases in the next two months.For players who are slightly further from international selection – six of the 15 Englishmen in this year’s BBL are uncapped in T20Is – a winter in Australia provides a chance to develop in a league that they grew up watching on cold winter mornings. There is no major difference in the flat limited-overs pitches found in both countries but few county cricketers have experienced Australia’s vast ground dimensions. Nottinghamshire’s Joe Clarke will trade Trent Bridge for the MCG during his stint at Melbourne Stars: “I have to adapt my game for the ground, which is fantastic,” he said.The majority of the English imports will be familiar names to Australian fans but a handful may be unknown. It is a reflection of the BBL’s lack of financial pulling power – salaries in the league are relatively low given the competition’s duration – that only a handful of major international names are now involved and the addition of a third overseas slot in each playing XI last season has opened the door for lesser-known overseas players.Hobart Hurricanes have signed Harry Brook, the PCA’s young player of the year for the 2021 English season, as a specialist middle-order batter who could exploit the Power Surge overs, as well as Jordan Thompson, Brook’s Yorkshire team-mate and a combative seam-bowling allrounder. Tom Abell, the innovative middle-order batter who has been approached by Jos Buttler for tips on playing the reverse-scoop, will join up with the Heat after England Lions’ tour match against Australia A and Laurie Evans will be the glue holding the Scorchers’ batting line-up together.At the other end of the scale, Vince and Alex Hales will again be expected to lead the way for their respective Sydney teams, with Billings putting a frustrating few months running the drinks behind him by hitting 90 off 45 balls in a warm-up match this week. Curran’s return is also significant for the Sixers – he has been a key player with both bat and ball during his two previous seasons with them – while Garton will hope to build on a solid IPL season with Royal Challengers Bangalore through all-round contributions for Adelaide Strikers.England players in BBL 2021-22:
Adelaide Strikers: George Garton
Brisbane Heat: Tom Abell, Ben Duckett
Hobart Hurricanes: Harry Brook, Jordan Thompson
Melbourne Renegades: Reece Topley
Melbourne Stars: Joe Clarke
Perth Scorchers: Laurie Evans, Tymal Mills
Sydney Sixers: Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, James Vince
Sydney Thunder: Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Saqib Mahmood

Despite the wickets missing with Cummins and Hazlewood, it would be a shock if Australia don’t take 10 more in this game

Andrew McGlashan18-Dec-2021There are 386 Test wickets taken at an average of 23.68 missing from Australia’s attack for this Test. For the first session of the third day it was just possible to wonder whether it might allow England a way back into the match as Joe Root and Dawid Malan remained unbroken.What happened after that, however, will have enabled Pat Cummins to watch contently back at his home in Sydney following the private jet escape he was allowed to make on Saturday morning amid the Covid close-contact drama.The combined figures of Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser – 1 for 111 off 30 overs – were a reminder of the absence of Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, but Steven Smith used his resources excellently. The majority of the middle session was a masterclass of Test bowling on what, largely, remained a good wicket for batting as Root and Malan had shown. The 30 overs brought 57 for 4, and the tally was only that high because Richardson leaked a few in the final couple of overs.Most of the overs were delivered by Mitchell Starc, Cameron Green and Nathan Lyon, with each outstanding. Green set the ball rolling by removing Root for the second time in the series – it will be a handy record to keep going – and Starc produced a superb spell of 7-2-12-2. All the while Lyon wheeled away from the Cathedral End for a spell that would eventually read 19-10-30-3 when the second new ball was taken. England decided they didn’t need a specialist spinner for this Test.Related

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“We didn’t quite bowl the way we wanted in the first session, let it slip a little and probably searched a little for wickets,” Starc said. “But the way we all came out, Nath and I probably took it on a little bit ourselves, being the two experienced ones in the attack, not to say the others aren’t hugely talented and did a great job, but we’ve played a few Test matches.”I thought [Nathan] was fantastic, especially in that second session where he bowled the whole session. For us quicks to bowl in partnership with him knowing that he was going to do a fantastic job was pretty key to how well we went.”Each of the three performances deserve closer scrutiny. The runs have yet to flow for Green in this series – it is one of few little wins for England – but the bowling has been what a captain dreams off from a fourth seamer. At the Gabba he removed Root in the crucial period before the second new ball and here he broke a stubborn partnership that had lifted England’s spirits.There was a similarity in the dismissals with Root again fiddling outside off at a good-length delivery, this time sending a catch to the lone slip rather than the keeper. But there had been a build-up this time of the type a seasoned quick would have been pleased with: the first ball of the over was a brute that climbed to beat Root’s edge, two balls later he played a loose drive to point and the next delivery was the fateful snick.”He’s obviously a fantastic talent for a young fella,” Starc said. “We saw that last summer, how valuable he can be to our attack when you’ve got someone who is nearly seven foot and bowls some pretty decent clicks. He’s come into his own again this summer. An allrounder of that ability and getting key wickets it’s a huge plus to our attack. We’ll see him evolve over the next few years…once he found that rhythm today he bowled some real high-quality stuff and almost set us on our way after the first session.”Cameron Green celebrates with team-mates after taking the wicket of Joe Root•Getty ImagesStarc, with an even more senior role in the absence of his regular sidekicks, replaced Green after a five-over post-dinner spell and struck in his first over when Malan’s strength became a weakness as he edged a cut to slip. For his next wicket, Starc completely worked over Jos Buttler with the angle across the right hander, luring him into false drives before drawing the edge. Patterns are emerging for England.”We saw at the Gabba with it [the angle] going across him,” Starc said. “For me it was just trying to bowl a good length, not let him get away, and still pepper that line away from him.”The pressure that Lyon was able to apply throughout the session was a key part of the stranglehold Australia maintained. It took Ben Stokes 24 balls to get off the mark and he was 3 off 32 before finding the boundary. By then he had lost Ollie Pope whose difficulties against offspin continued although there was a degree of misfortune when a firm clip was held by Marnus Labuschagne at short leg. However, two balls previously he had been reprieved by the DRS when the ball came off his forearm to short leg.Lyon continued to enhance his pink-ball record in the night session when he worked over Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson with classical offspin. “They left the field open on the offside, inside edge back on the stumps. This is offspin of the highest class,” Ricky Ponting said on .It was always unlikely that Smith would take the follow-on option, however tempting it would have been under lights against England’s fragile top order. These Test matches are basically all back-to-back so he can rest the bowlers and in turn put more miles in England’s. Meanwhile, having Lyon also gives him a clear final-innings route to victory.There are a lot of wickets absent from what would be Australia’s usual Test attack, but it would be a huge surprise if they don’t find a way of taking 10 more in this game.

The left-arm wristspinner who was let go by the Knight Riders produced a statement performance against them

Deivarayan Muthu10-Apr-20223:19

Manjrekar: You can see Kuldeep’s angst, wanting to prove himself again

Kolkata Knight Riders’ head of talent scouting and player acquisitions AR Srikkanth spotted Kuldeep Yadav in the Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai in 2014 and was so impressed by him that he immediately called up Trevor Bayliss, the then head coach of the franchise, and convinced him to snap up the left-arm wristspinner at the IPL auction that year. This was even before Kuldeep had emerged as India’s highest wicket-taker in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup in the UAE, where he also claimed a hat-trick.Knight Riders picked Kuldeep up for INR 40 lakh and he stayed with the side until 2022. He had made his IPL debut, for KKR, in 2016 and across the next two seasons, he became their highest wicket-taker, with 29 strikes in 27 games at an economy rate of 8.20.Then his world turned upside down. After being taken to the cleaners by England on a flat Edgbaston pitch in the 2019 World Cup, he was no longer a regular in India’s white-ball sides. By 2020, he was no longer a regular in the Knight Riders’ XI, with the franchise veering towards pairing Sunil Narine up with another mystery spinner in Varun Chakravarthy.In IPL 2021, Kuldeep didn’t get a single game before a knee injury prematurely ended his stint and forced him to fly back home for rehab.On Sunday afternoon, Kuldeep, who was recruited by Delhi Capitals at the auction earlier this year, ran into his former franchise. A few hours later he was toasting a Player-of-the-Match performance.Sure, Kuldeep (4-35) had scoreboard pressure to lean on in Capitals’ defence of 215, but his control over his variations against a power-packed Knight Riders line-up saw him add another chapter to his re-emergence.The left-handed Nitish Rana lined up Kuldeep in his very first over and walloped a slog-sweep over midwicket for six. Then, when he returned, Shreyas Iyer was in big-hitting mode, having charged at Axar Patel and launched him over his head for six. The preceding over from Rovman Powell had gone for 17 runs.Kuldeep cut his pace down to 78.9 kph and dangled one so wide that it would’ve been an off-side wide had Shreyas missed it. Not only did the batter reach it, he also expertly shovelled it to the left of Shardul Thakur at wide long-on. Shreyas then dashed out to Kuldeep as well, pumping his stock ball over the midwicket boundary for a six that brought him his fifty off 32 balls. With Andre Russell – and Pat Cummins – in the dug-out, it felt like Knight Riders were onto something, despite the rapidly rising asking rate.The Brabourne Stadium pitch was perhaps as flat as the Edgbaston one where he was torn into shreds in 2019, but Kuldeep was now wiser and more confident with his skills. He immediately struck back, sliding a wrong’un across an advancing Shreyas from a shorter length and having him stumped for 54 off 33 balls.He then took out Cummins, Narine and Umesh Yadav in the space of four balls in the 16th over to send Knight Riders tumbling to a 44-run defeat. Cummins was done in by a skidder while Narine and Umesh skied the legbreak. No longer one to leave anything to chance, Kuldeep tore across to the midwicket region from his followthrough and dived full-length to snag Umesh’s return catch near the 30-yard circle.Was that a point proven to his former franchise? The cathartic roar that he let out after completing that spectacular catch suggested it might well have been.

The allrounder played U-19 cricket for New Zealand, now represents Netherlands, and is hoping to get back in black to play senior cricket for New Zealand again

Shashank Kishore30-Mar-2022When Logan van Beek, 31, took the field for Netherlands in Mount Maunganui on Tuesday, he was playing an away ODI in his home country.Confused? Don’t be.van Beek, a fast-bowling allrounder born and raised in Christchurch, holds a Netherlands passport because his father is of Dutch descent, and that makes him eligible to play for Netherlands. Eight years after he first played for them, he was back home playing an ODI in New Zealand this week.Related

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It was a special moment for the family. His parents, used to waking up in the wee hours to watch him play, were at the Bay Oval in person this time.As the players took the field, some in the opposition ranks might have been a tad nostalgic too. New Zealand captain Tom Latham, Matt Henry, and Michael Bracewell used to be housemates with van Beek a few years ago.Also among his friends in the opposition was Henry Nicholls, van Beek’s childhood cricket buddy, with whom he first hit cricket balls with a plastic bat. Nicholls’ and van Beek’s older brothers were friends and team-mates, and that relationship helped their younger siblings develop a connection too.”When I finished school and moved out of home, I moved into Tom Latham’s house in Christchurch,” van Beek said when interviewed ahead of the three-match ODI series. “Matt Henry was the third flatmate and we lived together for four amazing years. It was easily the most fun time of our lives. Three great mates, all living and breathing cricket, under one roof.”In 2017, van Beek moved from Canterbury to Wellington to further his cricket prospects. It was around the same time that Bracewell moved to the capital from Otago. The two would be housemates for two years, and also enjoyed success together with Wellington Firebirds on the field.These pals of mine: van Beek, second from right, with (from left) Tom Latham, Michael Bracewell and Matt Henry•Kerry Marshall/Getty Images”It’s going to be incredible to be playing against my closest mates, not just in cricket but life, in an international match,” van Beek said. “It’s surreal. I can’t even remember the number of times we would have had dinners, chats, talks, just hanging out together, playing golf, watching movies, dancing. And now playing a game where I’m going to try and get them out.”There’s going to be a competition within a competition. Next month at my wedding in Christchurch, they’ll all be there. It’s an incredibly special time, and I’m looking forward to savouring the next couple of weeks.””We know each other inside out. I’ve bowled to these guys for as long as I can remember. You know them so well; at the same time, you’re trying to double- or triple-bluff then. Sometimes, it’s better to play someone you don’t know because you’re simply reacting to what is coming. When you see someone so many times, you think you can premeditate and start to predict, and quite often it can lead to your downfall. But I’m sure there will be a few winks, laughter, and banter.”Cricket is a big part of van Beek’s family history. Sammy Guillen, van Beek’s grandfather on his mother’s side, came from Trinidad and Tobago. He was one of only 15 cricketers to have played Tests for two countries – five for West Indies in Australia and New Zealand in 1951-52, after which he moved to New Zealand and played for Canterbury. About four years later he played three Tests for New Zealand against West Indies.”My paternal grandparents came over from Holland in the 1950s, and they settled in the South Island,” van Beek said. “When they had my father, he was eligible for a Dutch passport. And when my father had us, we were still eligible to get a Dutch passport because he had kept his up to date. If we keep renewing our passports, it could keep passing on through the family lineage.”My maternal grandfather met a bloke in Christchurch and asked him if he could get him a job there because he liked it so much. A few months later, the bloke rang him up with an offer. My grandfather said he hopped on a ship the same day and came over to New Zealand, and a few years later he ended up being a part of New Zealand’s first Test win over the West Indies.”van Beek gets rid of Kane Williamson in a game in the 2014 T20 World Cup•Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty ImagesIn more recent history, van Beek was part of New Zealand’s U-19 World Cup campaign at home in 2010. A few months before that, he represented the country at the U-19 basketball world championships. When it got to a point where he couldn’t realistically continue with both sports, he chose cricket.”I wasn’t 6’8″, I was just six, so maybe basketball wouldn’t have worked out,” he laughed. “A lot of my mates played cricket and I loved it. I loved the mateship and the camaraderie. I loved the athleticism elements of bowling and fielding. It was a no-brainer at the time. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”In 2012, van Beek first played for Netherlands in a county game against Essex, but as an overseas professional. Because he had played the Under-19 World Cup for New Zealand, there needed to be a three-year cooling-off period before he became eligible to play for Netherlands in an international fixture.As soon as he became eligible, he was picked for Netherlands at the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2014, a tournament where he played against New Zealand for the first time. The game was memorable for many reasons, not least that he dismissed future captain Kane Williamson.”Since then, I’ve played in two other World Cups,” he says. “So anytime I can represent the Netherlands, I want to try and do that. I am still trying to push my case to play for New Zealand as well.”What about the rules?”You can play for an Associate and next day play for a Full Member if you have the residency,” he says. “If I play for New Zealand, then I’ll have to wait for three years until I can represent the Netherlands again.”van Beek bats for Wellington, for whom he has played for five years now, in the Super Smash in 2019•Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesThat cooling-off period between a player’s last game for a Full Member side and their rejoining an Associate team is stipulated not just to encourage local Associate talent but also to prevent cricketers from Full Member nations from making a beeline for Associate teams in the hope of being selected for national representation in those sides.van Beek has had a contract with Wellington since 2017 – a six-month retainer that leaves him free to pursue other interests for the remainder of the year. It’s during this off season that he plays in the Netherlands, where he also has a part-time job as an executive at a real-estate development company. In New Zealand, along with his cricket, he works at an HR consultancy.Over the past few years there have been times when van Beek has had to miss international commitments with Netherlands. Recently he missed the South Africa tour in November, which clashed with the start of New Zealand’s domestic season. This time, the stars have aligned.van Beek is hopeful his New Zealand goal will come to pass but he is equally respectful of opportunities handed out by Netherlands. As a senior team member he wants to contribute to their progress. Being part of the ODI Super League has given them a rare chance to play 24 games (eight series of three matches each) against the top sides over a three-year period.The New Zealand tour is Netherlands’ second to the country in eight years. Last time they were on these shores, it ended in tears, as they failed to qualify for the 2015 World Cup. That meant losing ODI status and significant funding.”The talent pool is not wide, we have to persist with the same pool,” van Beek said. “Sometimes you are forced to give players a long rope because you don’t have a choice. Sometimes players may not be up for it, but you have to put them in the deep end and hopefully they swim. If they sink, you put on the life vest and keep them afloat until the penny drops.”It’s no secret that we don’t have the talent pool, but if we can find a way to come together and beat big teams, there’s no bigger satisfaction than that, to do things against the odds.”

From appointing a strong captain to picking and nurturing a viable XI, the challenges facing the ECB are many, and it isn’t moving fast enough

Ian Chappell24-Apr-2022Failed England skipper Joe Root endured the unfortunate nickname “Craptain” at his home county Yorkshire. The England hierarchy should have taken more notice of that unedifying sobriquet.Root’s self-inflicted demise preceded the announcement that former Kent and England player Rob Key was taking over as managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board.The two events are linked, as the first announcement at least ensured Key wouldn’t be making a polarising decision as his initial task. However Key’s good fortune doesn’t alter the point that the ECB is not good at moving quickly to reverse an untenable decision. This is not a strong ECB trait; it never has been.Related

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England were going backwards under Root, and one of Key’s first jobs will be to improve that ingrained and negative attitude.The fact that we are still discussing Root’s resignation and his possible successor is proof of the ECB’s sluggishness in rectifying a poor decision. It was obvious early in Root’s reign that the captaincy and he weren’t a match.The choice of players to be a reasonable England captain is very limited and this is also an indictment of the ECB. There should be a few ready replacements available in the first XI.Before the announcement of Key’s appointment, there were a number of suggestions about who could take over if Root was deposed.Stuart Broad is an intelligent, well-spoken player, but he should not be a captaincy consideration. He’s now too old and maintains a conservative streak, especially when it comes to field placings for his own bowling.Jos Buttler is not a Test wicketkeeper; he has no obvious place in the first XI. It’s hard enough to win Tests against a good team when you are playing level at XI-a-side, never mind prevailing when you are asked to perform while short-handed – just ask Mike Brearley.There’s only one viable captaincy option in the best XI and that’s allrounder Ben Stokes. If he seriously isn’t interested in the job, then England are in big trouble.To question Stokes’ viability based purely on the inferior captaincy of previous star allrounders is indefensible. Stokes has the fire in his belly and the positive approach to be successful. However, that alone doesn’t guarantee success.Whoever accepts the appointment, his initial job will be to make a poorly performing England side better. That is a captain’s job – to improve any team’s results.This shouldn’t be hard, as England have some good, underperforming batters. It was also a trend under Root that England suffered great misfortune with their genuinely fast bowlers, especially Jofra Archer.Nonetheless batters Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence possess a lot of skill but need encouragement to display it regularly. The same applies to offspinner Dom Bess, and to have not given an opportunity to the capable legspinner Matt Parkinson is nonsensical.If Stokes does accept the job, he may be the beneficiary of Parkinson’s evolution if he provides a strong voice at the selection table. And while he’s at it, he could overcome the fast-bowling shortage by encouraging Jamie Overton in his endeavours. There’s no doubt Overton has suffered from multiple injuries, but his genuine pace, even at under-age level, has been poorly handled on the county circuit.English cricket has a distorted affection for correct technique. If Stokes is appointed and then can redirect this trait into more positive encouragement of talented players, he will have done his country a huge favour. If chosen, Stokes shouldn’t be awarded a vote at the selection table – it’s not desirable – but if he presents a good argument, that will be sufficient.Key faces many demanding tasks ahead and he’ll need to maintain his “I have a mind of my own” attitude in the face of ECB ineptitude. However his first job – appointing a viable England captain and then supporting him fully – will be a really important task.

He might not have the express pace to boast, but his discipline and effort, especially in crunch overs, haven’t gone unnoticed

Sruthi Ravindranath26-Apr-20223:09

How good is Arshdeep Singh?

Punjab Kings weren’t exactly in a comfortable position when Arshdeep Singh came in to bowl the 17th over against Super Kings on Monday, defending a total of 187 for 4. Kings were coming off a big defeat at the hands of Delhi Capitals – and in this match, Super Kings were threatening to take the game away. Despite early strikes, Ambati Rayudu had got the team back in the game and had just plundered 23 runs off Sandeep Sharma in the 16th over. With the equation down to Super Kings needing 47 off 24 balls, all Arshdeep had to do was hold his nerve and bowl with control – like he had done consistently at crucial moments in the death overs for the last few seasons.The left-arm pacer did exactly that, with 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 2. The pressure was right back on Super Kings.Related

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The job was not over yet. After Kagiso Rabada’s six-run over, Arshdeep was back to bowl the 19th over with Super Kings needing 35 off 12 balls. On the other side was MS Dhoni – fresh off his heroics in the previous match against Mumbai Indians – and Ravindra Jadeja. Up against two experienced batters who are known for their finishing skills, Arshdeep also had to be wary of the fact that Dhoni had the Wankhede’s shorter boundary to target on the leg side.It could be nerve-wracking for anyone, but not for Arshdeep, who did his job without fuss. He was able to nail a couple of wide yorkers, and the one he missed by a fraction was dispatched for four. There was no panic in the Kings’ dugout because his magnificent spell at the death – 14 runs from 12 balls – had just left Super Kings needing a steep 27 off the final over. Even for Dhoni, that was a tough task. Rishi Dhawan, who was handed the final over, conceded 15 runs and dismissed Dhoni to take Kings home by 11 runs.Player of the Match Shikhar Dhawan (88 off 59 balls), Kagiso Rabada and Rishi – who was quite impressive in his first IPL match in five years – had all played important roles in helping Kings secure their fourth win of the season, but there was no doubt in captain Mayank Agarwal’s mind who had turned the match around.”I thought Arsh bowled exceedingly well,” Agarwal told the host broadcaster after the win. “I must credit him. Throughout the season, he’s stood up in tough moments and he’s bowled the tough overs. He’s always put his hand up and said, ‘Give me the ball’. So he’s been great for us.”Arshdeep Singh bowled a nerveless 19th over•BCCIEven though Arshdeep might not be among the wickets, time and again he has proved that he can be relied on at the death.In their first match of the season, Arshdeep bowled a frugal 18th over to keep Dinesh Karthik and Virat Kohli quiet when Royal Challengers Bangalore were going at nearly ten runs per over. When Mumbai Indians needed 33 off 18 balls, he landed the yorkers right and gave away just five runs and played a key part in the victory. In their loss against Gujarat Titans too, he bowled a solid 18th over, mixing his lengths well to keep Hardik Pandya under the pump.”I think Arsh has been the best death bowler in this competition,” Kagiso Rabada told the host broadcaster. “That’s what the stats say. He’s a youngster coming in. He’s got a lot of drive, a lot of ambition and he’s got talent as well. He’s just a good bloke. So it’s nice to have him around. I’ve always bowled at the death as well, so I know I’m going to bowl at the death but Arsh has just been magnificent and been leading the way in that discipline.”The numbers do say that. Arshdeep has conceded just 5.66 runs an over at the death, which is the best economy rate for a bowler who has bowled a minimum of 30 balls at the death in IPL 2022. Since IPL 2020, he has an economy rate of 8.63 in death overs, only behind Anrich Nortje and Jasprit Bumrah in the list.He has even made it to the top ten of bowlers with most yorkers bowled in the last few years, nailing 32 in 14 games since 2020 and conceding 3.75 an over while bowling this length.Though he might not have a lot of wickets to his name or the express pace some others have, Arshdeep’s discipline, especially in crunch overs, hasn’t gone unnoticed. After all, Arshdeep was one of the three players retained by Kings ahead of the IPL 2022 and he has repaid the team’s faith. His team-mates are acknowledging his efforts, while cricket pundits are discussing whether he’s done enough to earn an India cap. For now, Arshdeep is the man who bowls the tough overs, and bowls them with an uncluttered mind.

No blood was spilt, no bones broken, no wickets taken. And still, the bowling was scarily good

Osman Samiuddin03-Jul-2022The over from hell began about half an hour before the close, the ground bathed in sunlight a shade of extreme troll: all day absent only to turn up when there’s barely an hour left. It was the 22nd over of an England innings that had begun nearly seven hours ago.Three breaks for rain meant Mohammed Shami was bowling his 11th consecutive over without undue strain. Shami is not the most famous Lala in cricket. But with his thinning hair and permanent air of a character who has accidentally strolled out from a Netflix series on the badlands of Uttar Pradesh, he is a very endearing one.The ten overs, split by rain into spells of one, two, four and three overs before this one had been both exemplary and an exemplar of Shami bowling. Only, somehow amplified. No water had crept onto the pitch but his balls were skimming off it as if off a body of water, and not clay and soil and grass.Related

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Each delivery looked fuller and straighter and normally this would make them more hittable, but with Shami they aren’t anymore where they once were. There was swing, there was seam, there were times when those descriptions felt interchangeable. By a manual count, Shami beat both edges, or hit both edges 14 times in those ten overs.There was a ball from hell to poor Zak Crawley, the first after the first rain break. The caveat to Crawley’s summer of torment is that he has been the victim of some ferociously good balls, mostly from Trent Boult. As this one bent away from the angle into him, for once missing the edge, Crawley may have considered he was due that luck. Rishabh Pant got lucky too, his face almost rearranged by the late wobble.No wickets though because as much as Shami is known by the wickets he has taken – over 200 and counting, at a strike rate that is in the all-time top 10 – he is also known by the many wickets that he hasn’t taken, or rather, that he’s come within millimetres of taking. It is an odd reputation to acquire in this day and age when no claim is untested by data and over as long a career as of 60 Tests.It is the kind of thing you might hear about some forgotten bowler from the 1960s who never really made it or didn’t play long enough or who, if there had been greater accounting and less romanticism, it turned out wasn’t that unlucky after all. Plenty of numbers bear this out in Shami though.One of Shami’s more endearing traits is how lightly he wears his ill-luck, how little it seemingly takes from his energy.Jasprit Bumrah needs no luck to complement his genius but because life needs its own balance, Shami’s misfortune was credited to him. Crawley fell in the over after this ball from hell: bowled Bumrah, spooked Shami. Shami looked slightly more threatening; Bumrah had the three-fer.Shami’s efforts earned him the scalp of Jack Leach, a wicket fully deserved but a victim completely unworthy•PA Images via Getty ImagesBall one of the over from hell snaked in late, right through Joe Root’s attempted drive. It wasn’t the wrong ball to be driving at, it was the wrong bowler: this wasn’t New Zealand anymore. Ball two was straighter, shorter and bounced more than Root expected, hitting the bat handle sharply. In any other over, this would be the best ball. In this over, it would eventually be forgotten.Root lives off his late dabs and glides between third man and point. It is a release shot as well as a prolific one. Ball three was, in line and length, there to be late dabbed. It jagged back in so sharply Root was cut in half and beaten on the inside edge.By ball four, Root had been worked into a frenzy. He shuffled out to the ball, not necessarily for the purpose of scoring runs but more to kill the lbw he feared was coming. He did get struck on the pad, India did review it – Bumrah’s one mis-step as captain – but Root had calculated well. By coming out, the leg-before was gone.Ball five and more inswing. In a summer of Tim Southee, Boult and James Anderson, Shami’s inswing has already won; and he has been here only for one Test and has only bowled 13 overs before the third day. This one hit Root on the thigh pad, and invaluably, got him off strike.Root is the world’s best Test batter at the moment, but this was a weird, skittish innings. A hot take would be that it was too Bazball, trying to get bat on everything, attacking when caution made more sense. Three balls in a row from Shami – split by the last rain break – Root tried to drive balls that were very wide and full. Twice he hit air. Off the last, in no control, he edged over the cordon for four.Mohammed Shami knows it was a close shave against Joe Root•Getty ImagesA more considered view might see that the bowling, and Shami in particular, was so relentless that it drew Root into constant indiscretion. He shuffled, he walked out, he tried to manufacture shots and none of it worked. There was no getting away from this, not least because the breaks kept Shami and Bumrah fresh.Because he could or maybe because it was the plan, Shami beat Jonny Bairstow on the outside edge off the last ball of this over from hell. The recalibration of line, seam position and release was immediate and near-perfect. Over.No blood was spilt, no bones broken, no wickets taken. Scars though, not least upon this bold new world of England’s. What happens when the bowling is this good? Also, a microcosm of Shami’s career, all the near-misses and dropped catches, the close leaves and the missed reviews. Cricket is a game of infinitesimal margins, and rarely can that have been better articulated than it was through this over.Root fell the next over, bowled Mohammed Siraj, worked over Shami. Bairstow was millimetres from getting bowled in Shami’s next over and Jack Leach was dropped. Shami soon got Leach, a wicket fully deserved but a victim completely unworthy.

From travelling for more than three hours from Baraut to Delhi for training to stepping up for UP, the left-arm spinner is now nearing his destination

Daya Sagar14-Jun-2022When Saurabh Kumar earned his maiden call-up to the Indian Test team, albeit as a net bowler, in February 2021, he expressed his happiness with the above motivational quote on his Instagram account. It was accompanied by a selfie of him in the India practice jersey.Saurabh calls it the realisation of a tiny dream. “It was a big deal to be a part of team India’s dressing room,” he remembers. “My dream right from childhood was to be able to play Test cricket for India. I wasn’t going to realise that just yet, but this was the closest I had gotten to doing so. That was exciting in itself.”For the left-arm spinner from Uttar Pradesh, this was a rare moment of joy after a year that had had its fair share of gloom. The gloom had nothing to do with his performance. If anything, he was on top of his game when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. In the 2019-20 domestic season, Saurabh had 44 wickets at 21.09 in eight Ranji Trophy matches, including five five-wicket hauls. In the previous season, 13 first-class games had yielded 70 wickets at 18.15 with seven five-wicket hauls. He had also begun contributing regularly with the bat.Related

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This consistency was rewarded with a place in the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy against Saurashtra. That was around the time Covid-19 struck, and cricket, like everything else that was a marker of normalcy in everyday life, came to a grinding halt.”This was the most difficult phase of life for me,” Saurabh remembers. “I was bowling exceptionally well and felt I was not far from selection for the national team. My selection in Rest of India suggested that too. When Covid struck and everything stopped, I would often sit at home and wonder when things will restart. The way things had come to a halt gave no hope at times. You can play a tournament involving eight teams in a bio-bubble, but you obviously can’t replicate that for 38 teams. The lockdown kept me occupied with a lot of negative thoughts, but I was glad once that difficult phase ended.”However, the best thing for me was that the selectors remembered my performances when cricket restarted. I was asked to join the team as a net bowler when England visited in 2021. That’s when I felt assured that if one keeps performing, then that opportunity has to come, sooner or later.”Things only picked up for Saurabh from there. He was selected in the India A team for the tour to South Africa in the latter part of the year and then retained as a net bowler for the home Tests against New Zealand, before being picked in the main squad against Sri Lanka.Saurabh is currently in Bengaluru, spearheading UP’s spin attack against mighty Mumbai in the Ranji semi-finals. He had inspired his team to a big win in the previous round against Karnataka with seven wickets.None of this has come easy to Saurabh. He was all of 10 when he left his home in Baraut, Baghpat, to pursue his cricket dreams in Delhi. The distance of 60 kms would be covered by a passenger train, which stopped frequently enough for the actual travel time of two-two and a half hours to get extended by an hour everyday. In the initial years, Saurabh’s father Ramesh Chand, a junior engineer at All India Radio’s Akashvani Bhavan, would accompany him and drop him off at the National Stadium cricket academy before heading off for work. Once Saurabh got more familiar with the national capital, he remembers travelling by himself.”If I had practice at eight in the morning, then I would have to catch the 4.20 train. It was a single line, and that meant the train stopped often, and it would usually reach Old Delhi station only after three or three-and-a-half hours. Then I would catch a bus to the academy, where I was coached by Sunita Sharma ma’am and her husband Dinesh Tomar sir. Sometimes if there was a match, I would reach the venue straight from the station. It was tiring, but when you are driven by a dream, you tend to keep walking in spite of all that.”It was Saurabh’s positivity and perseverance that kept him going through the grind of travelling three to four days a week from Baraut to Delhi for practice. When there were tournaments he could be a part of, that frequency of travel went up accordingly. As performances in these events became better and more consistent, he started making his way into UP’s age-group teams. While making his way through Under-13 and Under-15 teams, he also earned himself a cricket scholarship at ONGC at age 15 and became a stipend-bound player for them.It was around this time that he also got an opportunity to train under Bishan Singh Bedi at one of his famed summer camps. “Bishan sir has had a huge role in my development,” he says. “He would organise these camps every summer and I have been a part of a fair few. I benefited greatly from him because he too was a left-arm spinner. When I was named in the Test team, he congratulated me over a video call. He’s a large-hearted man and one can’t help but feel positive after having a chat with him.”Saurabh (second from right, top row) was part of the India A squad that toured South Africa in November-December 2021•Charles Lombard/Getty ImagesWorking through Under-16 and Under-17 levels, Saurabh also turned out for UP Under-19 for three years. However, the pathway to the senior team seemed less obvious. At that point of time, the senior team had first-choice spinners in Piyush Chawla, Ali Murtaza, Praveen Gupta and Avinash Yadav, with the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Saurabh Kashyap as prospects.With his participation in tournaments in Delhi continuing, he was approached by officials at the Indian Air Force, who wanted him to turn out for them in an inter-departmental tournament of the armed forces. With no immediate prospects of playing for UP, the 20-year-old Saurabh accepted their offer, and with it a job as an airman.An impressive performance for Air Force brought him a chance to realise the first step of his India Test dream with a spot in the Services Ranji squad. His debut season for them in 2014-15 fetched him 36 wickets in seven matches. Soon, the tide turned in his favour in terms of spin resources at UP – Murtaza and Chawla had disappointing domestic seasons and Kuldeep began graduating to senior India honours.The prospect of returning to UP, initiated over a conversation with the state selectors, was not an easy decision for Saurabh or his family. At Services, he had the security of a stable government job in addition to the opportunity to play regularly for the senior team. The UP selectors also wanted him to first turn out for the Under-23 team as a precondition.”It wasn’t an easy decision, but I am glad it was one I took. If I hadn’t taken this decision then, I am quite sure I would have regretted this whole episode,” he says. “I learnt a lot from my stint with the Services. Their training is unlike that of any other cricket team. We would begin at 4.30 in the morning and only wind up around 9.30 at night. I found it challenging physically, but I can safely say that has made me a much mentally tougher cricketer.”Saurabh returned to Under-23 cricket with UP and picked up 21 wickets. This cemented his place in the senior team, and he celebrated his maiden first-class game for his home state with 10 wickets in the match against Gujarat.It’s only been upward and onward for Saurabh since. Before the semi-final this year, Saurabh had 206 first-class wickets at 24.29, with 16 five-wicket hauls and 10 wickets in a match on six occasions. He has also managed 1657 runs in 66 innings at 29.58 with two centuries and nine fifties.This season, his batting came to the fore in UP’s final league match against Vidarbha. Saurabh made 81 as UP avoided an innings defeat at the hands of an Umesh Yadav-led attack, a result that helped the team advance to the knockouts. He shared a seventh-wicket stand of 154 with Rinku Singh, who made 62 himself.”I wasn’t a very good batter to begin with but I have put in a lot of practice since,” Saurabh says. “I always wanted to be a bowler, but with time I realised that you need to contribute to your team’s performance beyond your basic skill. I take my batting quite seriously and work on it quite a bit – I am quite happy with two centuries, nine half-centuries and an average of 30!”Saurabh remembers the Vidarbha game for another reason; it was during this match that he learnt of his selection for India. “When I got hold of my mobile phone at the end of day’s play, I found a huge number of missed calls. I was wondering what might have happened,” he recalls. “When I got to know of my selection, I spoke to my parents and my wife. Being a part of the Indian Test team had been a childhood dream of mine, but it was one I had shared with them. When I got the white jersey of the Indian Test side in Chandigarh, I felt like I was within touching distance of this dream.”The presence of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja meant Saurabh wouldn’t get his India debut just yet. At 29, he realises he might not have much more than four or five years at his peak ahead of him. With India blessed with spin reserves, Saurabh might still have to wait for his turn with the Test team, but it is one he accepts gleefully.”I don’t think of this in a negative way, as that would begin to impact my performances. My job is just to go out there and play cricket with all my passion. I know that I will play Test cricket one day.”

England has been the place where they wanted to win the most

Firdose Moonda16-Aug-2022It was almost ten years ago to the day that a grinning Graeme Smith held the ICC Test mace aloft, after South Africa beat England in a second successive home series and became the top-ranked Test team in the world. At the risk of stating the obvious, Test cricket felt a little different then.Even though there was no World Test Championship final to work towards, and no hundred-ball competitor claiming eyeballs and column space, Test cricket and especially Test cricket in England, felt like the final frontier. Especially for South Africa.They had been building up towards that series since 2007, when they made it a goal to start winning more away from home. They beat Pakistan, then Bangladesh, then England and then Australia. In between that, they drew twice in India and had worked themselves into a position to compete for the No. 1 spot. They took that challenge so seriously that they spent time in the Swiss Alps in preparation, learning to trek through treacherous conditions. It was a metaphor for what they would encounter in England, and beyond. These days, there’s no time (and if we’re honest, no budget at CSA) to embark on such daring escapades. The cricket calendar is relentless and things like trekking and skiing have been replaced by such importances as new T20 league team names. For reasons of volume alone, a Test series does not feel as precious.But there are also reasons that South Africa don’t seem to be as high-profile an opposition or so highly-regarded as they used to be, The chaos that was CSA’s administration turned public perception against cricket in the country and though things are starting to smooth over, enough damage was done, on and off the field, to cause major scars. In the last five years, South Africa’s results have become inconsistent. Since May 2018, their win-loss ratio is sixth among the 12 Test teams, and that up-and-down run began when they returned to England in 2017.The side that toured then was completely a different South Africa to the one that won five years before. They had been gutted of their core, with the retirements of Smith and Jacques Kallis and the sabbatical AB de Villiers took that year. They were also without Dale Steyn, who was recovering from a serious shoulder problem, illness and injury affected Vernon Philander’s participation in the series and Kagiso Rabada missed a Test because of a suspension. South Africa went on to lose that series 3-1 and spiralled from there, losing to Sri Lanka home and away and to India and eventually found themselves seventh on the Test rankings.I have experienced us being world No.1 twice and I know that feeling – it’s so great•AFP/Getty ImagesThings have changed since. Under Elgar, who first captained in that 2017 Test series when Faf du Plessis was on paternity leave, they have not lost a Test series. And though the rebuild is still ongoing, the most important ingredients have fallen into place. “Our bowlers are big, tall, fast and strong and we’ve ticked the boxes with regards to the spin bowling department. We come in with a lot more resources,” Elgar said, with a nod to having two specialist spinners in Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer – a rarity in a South African squad.What Elgar didn’t say is that there is a sharp difference in the quality of the batting line-ups from 2017 and now. Even without Smith and Kallis, South Africa had Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock. On this tour, only Elgar has played a Test series in England after South Africa lost vice-captain Temba Bavuma to an elbow injury before the tour began. Only two other members of the line-up – Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen – have played 15 Tests. The rest of the specialist batters put together – Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Kyle Verreynne, Ryan Rickelton and Khaya Zondo – have played just 26.Given all that, it’s difficult to see if or how South Africa will be able to match England’s fire (we won’t name it because both captains have said they don’t want to talk about it anymore) with their own. But that’s not to say South Africa can’t chase. They hunted down two record targets against India in Johannesburg and Cape Town earlier this year to win the series 2-0. “One of the biggest strengths as a Test side over the last period has been our awareness to adapt,” he said. “When you are under the pump in Test cricket, you need to have skill. We’ve fast-tracked that at quite a good rate.”South Africa see themselves as a team that have progressed in the last decade from a style of cricket that is based on solid, but sometimes boring, batting and scary fast bowling to a team that can camouflage their approach a little more. They believe they have batters who can change tempo, and bowlers with variations and that they’ve started to catch up with teams that pulled ahead of them in terms of innovation. But the proof will only come against England.Since beating them in 2012 South Africa have not won another series against England, home or away. They have, however, claimed at least once series victory over every other Test team in that decade and no-one other than India has a better win-loss ratio. So again, this is the final frontier.It may not carry the same hype, the same names or the same backstory but there’s a significance to this series and no-one knows that more than Elgar. “I didn’t take this job thinking we were just going to be mid-table and not playing our best cricket. I have experienced us being world No.1 twice and I know that feeling – it’s so great,” he said. “But I know it’s such a journey and such hard work to get there. I want the young guys to experience that. I still want to experience it before I close the chapter. That’s a massive goal for me. That’s the biggest one.”