The stats highlights from the opening day of the Nagpur Test include the Ashwin-Thirimanne history, the Jadeja-Ashwin partnership, Karunaratne’s prolific 2017, and more

S Rajesh24-Nov-2017A no-contestWhen R Ashwin dismissed Lahiru Thirimanne in the morning session, not many would have been surprised. After all, this had already happened 11 times previously in all international cricket – six times in ODIs, five times in Tests, and once in T20Is. It is the most times he has dismissed any batsman, and the most times any bowler has dismissed Thirimanne in international cricket.Since the start of 2010, only two bowler-batsman pairs are higher in this list: Mahela Jayawardene-Saeed Ajmal, and Mohammad Hafeez-Dale Steyn. Both Thirimanne and Ashwin feature once more in the top five – Thirimanne has been Anderson’s bunny as well, while Ashwin has had plenty of success against David Warner as well.In terms of frequency of dismissal, though, the Ashwin-Thirimanne one is better than any of the other entries in the top five. Of the 18 times that Ashwin has bowled to Thirimanne in internationals, he has dismissed him 12 times, which is a frequency of one dismissal every 1.5 innings.

The Ashwin-Jadeja partnershipFor the 24th time in a home Test, Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were a part of India’s team, and as usual, they wreaked havoc on the opposition batsmen, combining to take 7 for 123 to bundle Sri Lanka out for 205. In these 24 Tests, they have combined to take 273 wickets at 20.94, with 22 five-wicket hauls between them. In these 24 matches, these two bowlers have taken 64% of India’s bowler-wickets; the other bowlers have combined to take 155 scalps at 33.35.

Those numbers compare favourably with those of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. In the 34 Tests they played together for India, they took 356 wickets at 27.23, with 30 five-fors. They combined to take 66% of the total bowler-wickets in those Tests, and, like Ashwin and Jadeja, were significantly better than the other bowlers combined.

Karunaratne’s special yearSri Lanka would have been much happier had Dimuth Karunaratne gone on to a bigger score than his 51, but those runs were enough to make him only the second batsman to get to 1000 Test runs in 2017, after Dean Elgar. Elgar has 1097 runs in 20 innings, compared to Karunaratne’s 1000 in 23. Karunaratne has faced more deliveries than any other batsman in Tests this year, though – 2212 to Elgar’s 2162.

For Karunaratne, 2017 has been a watershed year: his previous best aggregate in any year was 769, from 21 innings in 2015. He has also been Sri Lanka’s leading Test batsman in 2017, in terms of runs, average and hundreds.

Chandimal’s 3000The top-scorer in Sri Lanka’s innings, Dinesh Chandimal, had a personal milestone to celebrate too, becoming the 13th Sri Lankan batsman reach 3000 Test runs. That would be a small crumb of comfort, though, given the way the team collapsed after winning the toss.

It was perhaps one of their few shortcomings last season when they made the finals, but the franchise has done well to address it

Mohammad Isam01-Nov-2017Previous season: Runners-up, with eight wins in 15 matches.Big pictureRajshahi Kings, last year’s finalists, have tried to retain the crux of their 2016 squad and most of the senior players. But they have also added Mushfiqur Rahim, Luke Wright and Lendl Simmons which should provide them the batting depth they sometimes missed last year. They were lucky as well, to have the first pick in the draft on September 16, and predictably went after Mustafizur Rahman. But the left-arm fast bowler suffered an ankle injury in South Africa and is likely to miss the first two weeks of the tournament.Rajshahi Kings squad

Luke Wright, Kesrick Williams, Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy, Malcolm Waller, Samit Patel, Mohammad Sami, James Franklin, Usama Mir, Raza Ali Dar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mominul Haque, Mehidy Hasan, Farhad Reza, Mustafizur Rahman, Zakir Hasan, Nihaduzzaman, Rony Talukder, Hossain Ali, Naeem Islam Jnr, Qazi Onik

Rajshahi’s top-order will be manned by Wright, Simmons, Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur while Malcolm Waller, Samit Patel, James Franklin and Raza Ali Dar will be expected to take charge during the middle and end of each innings. They also have Darren Sammy and Farhad Reza for all-round firepower.Apart from Mustafizur, the bowling rests on the shoulders of Mehidy Hasan, Kesrick Williams, Mohammad Sami, Usama Mir and Nihaduzzaman. Little-known players like Hossain Ali, Naeem Islam Jnr and Qazi Onik also have to be well prepared in case of an emergency call-up.Key playerSamit Patel was one of nine men retained by the franchise. He played all of their 15 matches last season, scoring 288 runs and picking up 11 wickets. Upon returning home to England, he scored a further 405 runs at a strike-rate of 146 and average of 40 and was a vital member of the Nottinghamshire side that lifted the NatWest T20 Blast title.CoachRajshahi have stuck with Sarwar Imran after he delivered almost everything the owners had asked for. He has been coaching BPL sides since the first season in 2012, his knowledge of local talent and his technical expertise are considered useful assets.One that got awayRajshahi opted not to renew their contract with Sabbir Rahman, who had top-scored for them last year with 377 runs at a strike-rate of 117.81. While his value as a match-winner is clear – he struck a sensational hundred, off only 53 balls, against Barisal Bulls – off-field issues have dogged him. He was fined 30% of his BPL contract amount for a “serious” breach of code during the Chittagong leg of the tournament in 2016.Flying under the radarZakir Hasan is a young wicketkeeper batsman who impressed playing for Bangladesh Under-19s in the 2016 World Cup. He has also done relatively well in domestic cricket since, and even made it into the Bangladesh A side recently.

With six teams chasing four spots ahead of the WBBL’s last leg, there’s much to play for after a topsy-turvy week for a few of the franchises

Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins25-Jan-2018Renegades and Satterthwaite burn their chancesLet’s say it straight: none of the Brisbane Heat, Perth Scorchers or Melbourne Renegades deserve to be in the finals. But, one of those sides will. More on the former two further down, but first the rabble that Red Melbourne has become.Previously, we thought Renegades had got things right. They beefed up their batting and started winning close games that previous seasons had seen them lose. But recent rounds have seen it all come undone.They couldn’t chase 121 against last-placed Hobart Hurricanes, or make 119 against the second-last-ranked Melbourne Stars and were then routed for 68 by Sydney Thunder. The Gades did their job in the field, but failed totally with the bat.For culpability in the two chases, we’re looking squarely at Amy Satterthwaite.This may seem harsh, given she was out off the last ball for 65 against Hurricanes and her unbeaten 31 against the Stars included a last-ball six that ushered in a Super Over. Her team-mates losing four wickets in that decider was emblematic of their lack of support.But the numbers don’t show how the captain batted through the guts of both innings without moving the scoreboard enough. Her six off the final ball was Satterthwaite’s first boundary since halfway through the ninth over. She hit only those two in the game.Satterthwaite kept finding boundary riders on the leg side, rather than making room to go over cover with the field in close. Attempted ramps didn’t work with no pace in the bowling or the pitch. Overall, it just wasn’t smart play. With a required rate barely topping a run a ball from the halfway mark, the Stars game should have been well and truly won before that six was ever needed.And 65 from 58 against Hurricanes looks good on paper, but a player coming to the crease after seven balls has to be worth more than four boundaries in the final five overs. The required rate ballooned from 6.38 at Satterthwaite’s first ball, to 10.75 after 16 overs. At that point, her strike rate was still under 100.So the equation became 33 from three overs, 25 from two, and 18 from the last. That Renegades lost by four runs showed how they had left their charge too late.You can only credit good bowling up to a point. The players who are valued in T20 cricket are the ones who find a way, whatever it takes.Alyssa Healy plays to the off side•Getty ImagesSixers are bubbling, but now lack key ingredientsSydney Sixers, conversely, got back to their consistent best, recovering to turn a mid-season stumble into a minor event. The Harbour City side are back to second spot after a thumping trio of wins, two against Heat and one against Stars.It’s the spread of contributions that set the Sixers apart. Alyssa Healy was back in business with 70 off 43 balls against Heat, then when she got a first-baller in the return bout, Erin Burns stepped up with 54 from 39, each driving Sixers to a total beyond being chased. Ellyse Perry chipped in with three useful knocks, and sits atop the season list with 477 runs. That means that Meg Lanning’s record of 560 is in her sights.But the Sixers bowling is the interesting point now, given that South Africans Marizanne Kapp and Dane van Niekerk are leaving the WBBL for national duty. Kapp is the season’s most economical bowler, at a frankly indecent 4.72 runs per over, while van Niekerk is the leading wicket-taker with 20 at at 11.70.Reverse the stat categories and Kapp offers another dozen wickets while van Niekerk’s legbreaks have gone at 5.57 runs per over. It’s a truly class pairing – so can the Sixers continue their tilt without them?With the same problem having occurred in previous seasons, it again emphasises the need for a WBBL window free of international interference. The Stars also lose big-hitting opener Lizelle Lee, one of their few shining lights, while Indian players Harmanpreet Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy have also left Thunder and Hurricanes respectively.Elyse Villani set up the Perth Scorchers chase with an unbeaten 74•Getty ImagesPretenders get a final chance they don’t deserveBack to Scorchers and Heat, then. A familiar theme runs through both: over-reliance on too few. Heat are doing an excellent Stars impression from the first two WBBL seasons, with Beth Mooney the star this time around.The run-machine opener was at it again, hunting the Sixers’ hefty 160. With her there, they were right in the game. But when she fell on 60, a 9-for-50 collapse followed.In the return bout, Heat were chasing 145 for an unlikely win, again fielding a bits-and-pieces attack in which seven or eight players bowl. But when Kapp picked up Mooney in the first over, Heat never stood a chance.As for the Scorchers from Perth, they couldn’t have picked a better weekend to host the ailing Hurricanes after a misadventure up north. Elyse Villani finally relocated the form that lit up the WBBL before Christmas, smashing 70 not out from 48 balls to steer an easy chase.Second time around, though, it should have been another Hurricanes upset had Nicole Bolton been caught in the 17th over. Heather Graham had just got out, and Scorchers needed 29 from 21. Instead, Bolton was dropped, slapped a six next ball, and saw out the chase of 130.The Scorchers, therefore, can still make the cut. But it can’t be Bolton and Villani forever. If they are to contend rather than pretend, they need more contributions.Katherine Brunt lies down after falling over•Getty ImagesSuper Saturday (and Sunday) to solve the puzzleThe teams that can’t make the cut – Stars and Hurricanes – play each other, so the six contenders each play a pair of games against one other contender. The final round is perfectly poised.From sixth, Renegades (10 points) have to win twice against Scorchers (14) to have a chance. But the team from Perth are notoriously poor away from home, so Renegades could flip Scorchers’ small run-rate advantage and take fourth spot. Once again, it’s sudden death all around.Of course, Renegades would also need Heat (12 points) to lose at least once against Thunder (18 points), which is a fairly safe bet against the top side. But if Heat can win both games and Scorchers can’t get a win, then the former will take fourth spot instead.Adelaide Strikers have been better on the road than most, but will need to be at their best in Sydney against Sixers. Second versus third will be a quality contest, though there’s no home final at stake given the finals still follow the men’s BBL draw.Either Strikers or Sixers could theoretically miss finals if one side is thrashed twice, with Scorchers winning twice, and Heat having a couple of massive wins to get a net run-rate boost. That, however, is unlikely and we wouldn’t recommend holding your breath.We would recommend tuning in, though, with all these games streamed live. At this time of the season, it’s not worth missing a minute.

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Mar-2018

There were the makings of a full Broad ‘streak’ before rain brought an early tea, but this was the quick bowler at his menacing best

Andrew Miller at Lord's12-Aug-2018Four slips, leg slip, leg gully. Short leg. Silly mid-on. Silly mid-off. Two wickets in the over already, including a hat-trick of referred appeals. Virat Kohli back in the hutch and an intermittently soggy Lord’s now crackling like a heath fire. This was the Stuart Broad Effect. This is what it means to bend a Test-match innings to your will.Nobody in contemporary world cricket gets on a roll quite as remarkably as Broad. The signs that he is about to soar are as exhaustive as a final cabin check before take-off. Knees pumping: Check. Nostrils flared: Check. A mild sense of grievance after an excruciatingly near-miss: Check. And most importantly of all, a Test series that is begging to be seized: Checkmate.On seven occasions in his Test career to date, Broad has claimed five wickets or more in a single stunning spell, and had it not been for a merciful flurry of rain that allowed India to scarper for an early tea, that would surely have been eight today. Without exception, those previous interventions had come with the series still in the balance – most notably in three home Ashes deciders in a row from 2009 to 2015. Today’s break may have broken Broad’s rhythm (or more accurately his trance), but by then – and for the first time since the Johannesburg Test in 2016 – the contest had been snapped like a piece of kindling.”As a powerful performance, it was right up there,” said Broad. “We know we got the best of the conditions, but when we got them, there was a lot of skill in the side. When you get the ball swinging you can chase the game.”I was actually gutted when that rain arrived,” he added. “At Lord’s when you get those clouds it can zip quite late and it was really doing that, but when we came back after the tea break the clouds had lifted slightly, so that was a real shame because I was feeling in a great rhythm.”For Joe Root, England’s captain, all he had to do was harness that whiff of cordite, and keep it wafting underneath his bowler’s nose. “You have to make sure you don’t over-attack and get too giddy,” said Root. “But ultimately when someone is in that frame of mind, in that zone, it doesn’t really matter where you put the fielders. You know they’re going to ask the right questions, make it very difficult … it’s a lovely feeling to have as captain.”Broad’s fires had been ignited from the moment he returned for his second spell. Cheteshwar Pujara immediately aimed a loose swipe outside off, before Ajinkya Rahane inside-edged past his stumps two balls later. It was all the encouragement he needed to pick those knees up a touch higher and keep pounding that same sixpence of turf, just outside the right-hander’s off stump. In his very next over, Rahane’s resolve was splintered by consecutive deliveries that scuttled then kicked from the same awkward length. A fence to Keaton Jennings’ right at second slip, and Broad had been cleared for blast-off.”It was great,” said Root. “In his second over, he came up to me and said ‘I feel in really good rhythm today, and I’m looking forward to a long spell’ – which is exactly what you want to hear from one of your senior bowlers.””He didn’t disappoint – he bowled exceptionally well in those conditions, and it must have been very difficult to come up against that.”Stuart Broad’s spell before tea on the fourth day at Lord’s•ESPNcricinfo LtdThat is putting it mildly. Broad, like England’s other outstanding bowler of the week, Chris Woakes, endured a rough Ashes series – a loss of snap in his wrist exacerbated by nagging worries over his long-term heel injury – and he went into the New Zealand leg of England’s winter with his role as James Anderson’s new-ball partner under scrutiny, if not his overall place in the side.But in spite of a relative paucity of wickets in the first three innings of the series, the threat that went missing in Australia has been handsomely restored in the off-season – most notably thanks to some long and solitary hours of technical fine-tuning in the Trent Bridge indoor school ahead of the New Zealand Tests. According to Cricviz, Broad’s average speed this year has been a sharp 84.3mph, the fastest he’s clocked since 2011, and at an average length of 7.1m, he’s been bowling roughly a foot fuller than at any stage in those preceding seven years too.The upshot was a detonation of India’s resolve – once again epitomised by the extraction of their captain Kohli. Struggling with a back strain that all of India will hope is as much a metaphor as an ailment, Kohli survived one referral for a leg-side strangle, but not the next, as another Broad lifter flicked off the glove and into Ollie Pope’s outstretched hands at short leg.That wicket of Kohli meant, of course, that for the fourth innings in a row, the most prized scalp of the series had eluded the one bowler who hankers after it more than any other. But with overall match figures of 9 for 43 in 25.2 overs, as well as his 550th Test wicket, his 100th at Lord’s, and his 99th in Anglo-Indian contests, more than any other bowler in Test history, James Anderson won’t exactly be heading to Trent Bridge feeling short-changed.”He’s a special, special commodity, isn’t he?” said Root. “He’s something that doesn’t come along very often and we’ve got to enjoy him while he’s around. There’s been chat about his longevity but, at the minute, he’s bowling better than he ever has before. Even though the conditions suited him, you’ve still got to put the ball in the right area and ask the right questions of the batters. Throughout the whole game he did just that, he set the tone well with Stu, and as a whole bowling group we were really, really good.”For all that Broad has had his ups and downs in recent times, there was never an outright suggestion that he’s past his prime at the age of 32 – while Anderson, at 36, has arguably entered a period of zen-like mastery that will surely, finally, quieten those doubters who claim that his lack of equivalent impact in non-swinging conditions is a reason to disqualify him from the ranks of the all-time greats.Broad’s admirable indifference to what anyone other than his team-mates think of him means that any such debate about his status is irrelevant. And yet, as he slipped past Dale Steyn and Shaun Pollock into the all-time top ten of Test wicket-takers, it was another reminder of how fortunate England are to have two such titans in their ranks, and how crucial it will be to ensure they remain at the top of their game for as long as their bodies will allow.”I think that’s something we will have to manage, and will have to take into account the workloads over the next three games,” said Root. “But when they’re performing as they are, and making the game shorter, it makes it a lot easier for them to be fit and be ready to play in the next game. If there are, it’s a great position to be in.”

How the St Lucia episode is far different to the punishments and public backlash in Australia in the aftermath of the ball tampering row

Andrew Fidel Fernando19-Jun-20184:17

How sweets help alter the condition of the ball

Only two months ago, three Australia cricketers were slapped with long suspensions for their role in the ball tampering scandal in Cape Town. Dinesh Chandimal, however, is unlikely to face punishments beyond the one-Test suspension the ICC has dealt out for the tampering itself (the “spirit of cricket” charge is a separate one). Here is why the two incidents will be treated differently.There is minimal outrage in Sri Lanka
Where Cricket Australia’s response was spurred by public condemnation of the Cape Town incident, Sri Lanka’s public has, at most, expressed only quiet disappointment so far. Two possible reasons why the public reactions have been dissimilar:

• Australian sportspeople are generally put on a high pedestal, and allegations of cheating – even for what was a Level 2 ICC offence – are taken seriously. Sri Lanka’s cricketers are widely admired, but do not face anywhere near the level of public scrutiny that many others from around the world contend with. Several former players, including the super-popular Kumar Sangakkara, have spoken of the relatively laidback nature of Sri Lankan fame. As such, there is not so high an expectation of morality, even from a Sri Lanka captain.
• In general, Sri Lanka’s cricketers are perceived at home to be relatively well-behaved. Although there is widespread disenchantment with the country’s cricket administrators, the players themselves have mostly (but not totally) been immune to public anger over the state of the nation’s cricket. Chandimal, in particular, has cultivated an image of modesty and affability. Compare this with the less glowing public profile of the Australia team in the approach to their tampering fallout. As Brydon Coverdale wrote at the time: “with their culture of sledging, whingeing, hypocrisy and arrogance, Australia’s cricketers… have become an insufferable national migraine.”

The series has mostly been good-naturedAustralia’s ball-tampering had been preceded by sequence of escalating clashes, hearings and controversies that had brought the cricket spinning to a high-intensity vortex. David Warner had a stairwell confrontation with Quinton de Kock – an incident that went on to manifest itself in ugly and provocative ways, such as the masks some fans wore in the subsequent game (two CSA officials were even suspended for having their photo taken with fans wearing those masks). In addition, there were Kagiso Rabada’s brushes with indiscipline, Warner’s aggressive wicket celebrations, and sledging from both sides.This series in the Caribbean has been low-key in comparison. The teams have played to largely empty stands. At no stage has player discipline been an issue. The two quickest bowlers – Shannon Gabriel and Lahiru Kumara – have frequently breached 145kph, but have done so without riling up the opposition. In this context, Chandimal’s tampering was not the cheating cherry on top of an aggro sundae, it was merely a captain seeking an unfair advantage.That Cricket West Indies has been quiet through the whole affair is also unsurprising: SLC is assisting the West Indies board with some of the costs of this tour – costs the hosts would ordinarily be required to bear.Sri Lanka’s long-term tendency has been to forcefully defend its players
This is partly small-country syndrome, and partly skepticism of international cricket officiating based on past events. When faced with official sanctions, Sri Lanka sides have often closed ranks and adopted a siege mentality – a phenomenon that has sometimes inspired them to famous wins, such as in 2014 against England, where Sachithra Senanayake had been reported for a suspect action.There have been many occasions in which this sense of victimhood has been invaluable. The team’s unflinching support of Muttiah Muralitharan through the various unfair discriminations over his action, helped protect the player who would become their greatest matchwinner. In 2015, when Kusal Perera had allegedly tested positive for a banned substance, the board once again backed their player and had him cleared.This, for better or worse, is the culture this Sri Lanka team has inherited, and it explains a little of why the team was so incensed at their captain being charged on Saturday morning, that they refused to take the field for almost two hours. It also explains why SLC and the sports minister had already issued a release stating: “SLC shall take all necessary steps to defend any player, in the event any unwarranted allegation is brought against a member of the team,” before the ICC hearing had taken place.No delegation, no evidence of conspiracy.At Cape Town, Australia’s captain and vice-captain were found to have delegated the actual tampering to one of the most junior members of the side – Cameron Bancroft. Not so here – Sri Lanka’s captain stuck his own neck on the line. What had also made the Cape Town scandal worse, is that the men involved initially lied about the substance used. They first said it had been sticky tape, when it had been sandpaper.There is no strong leadership at SLC at present
Even in the unlikely event that there was public pressure to impose its own penalties on Chandimal, this particular leadership group at SLC is unlikely to take that route. In short: the board is presently defunct. Because the previous office-bearers had failed to hold elections before the end of their term on May 31, the government has stepped in and installed a temporary “competent authority” to run cricket while fresh elections can be organised.SLC still has a functioning CEO, but there are no policy makers to support him, and the government officials who are standing in, have no previous experience in serious cricket administration. It would be almost unthinkable for them to take as serious an action as strip a player of the captaincy, or hand him a suspension anywhere near as lengthy as those dealt to the Australia players.

Aided by the admirable Mohammed Shami, India’s senior Test spinner demonstrated his enduring worth to India

Nagraj Gollapudi at Edgbaston01-Aug-2018R Ashwin and Mohammed Shami. Two strangers in the Indian Test squad. Two players with different questions to answer. Two men who have a point to prove.Despite having a good county stint last year with Worcestershire, Ashwin’s Test record in England until Wednesday had been negligible: three wickets at an average of 33.66 from the two Tests he had played on the 2014 tour. Those numbers aligned with his lean form overseas outside of the subcontinent. With Ashwin now being consigned to play Test cricket only, this tour carries huge significance for him.Ashwin did not need to wait for long. Virat Kohli threw the new ball to his offspinner as early as the seventh over. Curiously, Kohli had mentioned at the toss he would have elected to bowl, as if to justify picking four seamers, including Hardik Pandya, in the five-man bowling attack.What would have certainly influenced Ashwin’s early introduction was not just Umesh Yadav spraying the ball in his first spell of three overs, but also the slowness of the pitch. But Ashwin has bowled with the new ball in the past and he would have fancied bowling when the pitch still had some moisture in its surface.It did not take him long to bowl the best ball of the day. The pitch was still damp when the match started under cloud cover. He had the advantage of bowling to two left-handers in Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings. And he started from round the wicket, an angle from which Cook has succumbed on many occasions in the past. He was well aware of Ashwin’s plan, but he got sucked into it all the same.With the fourth ball of his second over, Ashwin bowled a fuller delivery on the off stump which Cook drove in front of square for no run. He’d been pushing him back at first, and had now started to lure him forward. He had got the batsman playing.One ball later, Ashwin floated down an offbreak at around 55kph. The ball maintained its middle-and-off-stump line as Cook leaned forward to defend, but you could see that Ashwin had put a lot of revolutions on the ball, as the seam was coming down almost straight. Sure enough, it landed on the seam, and the dampness in the pitch allowed it to grip. There was bounce from the new ball along with the turn, enough to beat the outside edge of Cook’s bat before it hit the off stump. It was a beautiful delivery. Ashwin was joyous.And that set the tone for Ashwin’s day, for despite there being not much turn off the surface, he managed to gain an upper hand by imparting a lot of revolutions on the ball, subtly changing the pace on the delivery and sticking mostly to a tight line around the off stump. His average speed today was 54.8 kph, but Ashwin did fire in the quicker one that goes with the arm to keep the batsman rooted to his crease.Ashwin is at his most dangerous when he is attacking the stumps with aggressive lines. Out of the 150 deliveries he bowled today, 118 were pitched on a good length or or just short of a length. The one time he dropped short, he was duly cut by Joe Root for four. The other strength Ashwin has is he can read batsmen quickly. When Jos Buttler arrived at the crease, Ashwin understood that the right-hander would be more circumspect as he continues his return to Test cricket, and not as free-flowing version as he is in limited-overs cricket.Ashwin bowled a slow, loopy delivery on a good length on off stump; Buttler was slow to move into position. That momentary delay was enough for the ball to hit the pads and catch him plumb in front. And when Ben Stokes arrived, Ashwin left the allrounder restless by locating a no-man’s land of width and length, that he could neither attack nor defend convincingly. Eventually Stokes left embarrassed, after flapping a nothing shot back to the bowler. And his fourth wicket of the day was a classic sucker punch – a slower and wider delivery to Stuart Broad, following up with a quicker arm ball that had the left-hander plumb lbw.Ashwin not only created pressure, but also played the role of an impact player. Although Virat Kohli can claim the honour of creating the turning point in the match, Ashwin has proved that he can take advantage of the slightest opening.But Ashwin will admit he could not do the job single-handedly. There was another man that maintained the pressure on England, and that was Shami.R Ashwin leaps in joy after getting an early wicket•Getty ImagesShami had gone wicketless in the three-day warm-up against a second-string Essex side last week. However, that was the first match Shami had played since mid-April after he injured his hamstring playing for Delhi Daredevils during a four-match IPL stint. The last time Shami had played for an extended time was during the three-Test series in South Africa, where he bagged a five-for in the second innings of India’s victory in Johannesburg.A crisis in his personal life was another issue for Shami to surmount. He did not make the cut for the one-off Afghanistan Test due to fitness doubts, but once he cleared the mandatory yo-yo tests, the selectors named him in their squad for the first three Tests in England. But the Indian think tank still had some nagging doubts.Was Shami mentally ready to return to the Test arena? Did he have enough stamina in his legs and core to sustain the grind of bowling so many spells? Most importantly, could he catch that rhythm without any cricket under his belt?His first over today was a maiden, and a perfect one as well. He started with a short-of-a-length delivery that forced Root on the back foot. He then followed up with a fuller-length outswinger and was soon landing the ball on the seam at will.Considering Shami was returning from injury, Kohli bowled him in shorter spells. That isn’t necessarily the ideal way to use him, seeing as Shami is a rhythm bowler, unlike Umesh or even Ishant, who can be patchy. His strength is his ability to land the ball on the right length consistently, the type of bowler who needs to deliver his stock ball consistently. In the end, Shami pitched 81 out of his 114 deliveries between short-of-a-good-length and a good length.But he was not shy of testing batsmen with a bouncer, or a yorker-length delivery fired into the toes. What Shami did not allow the batsmen was a short ball that could be cut and pulled. Virtually every second or third delivery, Shami would raise his hands to his head as if he nearly had his man. It was not a ploy to distract the opponent, instead it telegraphed Shami’s dominance over the batsmen. And his average speed was in the high 80s throughout.The two wickets he got on Wednesday, of Keaton Jennings and Dawid Malan, were virtually identical: both balls were angled in from wide of the crease. Both were on a good length and moved in sharply off the seam. Both left the batsman unable to respond. The Indian think tank might have been anxious in the absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, two bowlers who contributed to India claiming 20 wickets in each of the three Tests in South Africa. But Ashwin and Shami have shown evidence they can do that job, too.R Ashwin and Mohammed Shami. Two men who kept India safe on the first of day of the Test summer. Two men who will keep proving their worth.

With 21 games left before the 2019 edition, the Sri Lanka series is as good a time as any to identify personnel and combinations

Firdose Moonda27-Jul-2018 Is a series in Sri Lanka a good starting point for World Cup preparation?Instinct would say no, but the answer is yes. The expectation of flat pitches with plenty of runs everywhere in the world for ODIs would say it’s as good as anywhere and batting coach Dale Benkenstein has come up with a reason. Given South Africa’s problems against wristspin and Sri Lanka’s team selection, Benkenstein sees the series as an opportunity for education. He hopes the batsmen will gain experience in picking the turn, something that they struggled with en masse against India earlier in the year and during the Tests. The results might not be pretty but it’s something South Africa have to go through if they are to improve.How much will South Africa miss AB de Villiers?South Africa’s performance in the Test series suggests that de Villiers’ absence is already glaring. However, they’ve been used to his absence for long periods anyway. De Villiers had never taken a similar sabbatical in the shorter formats, even after stepping down as ODI captain following the 2017 Champions Trophy. He was always identified as their talisman and their mascot; the man who wanted to win a World Cup more than anyone else.Now, South Africa have to go into the tournament without de Villiers, who decided to define his career on other things. South Africa may miss his reputation but a brief glance at his recent numbers suggest they aren’t missing much, runs wise. De Villiers scored only 20 runs in three Champions Trophy matches, then returned from injury to blast 176 against Bangladesh but had a quiet series against India, scoring 56 runs in three innings.JP Duminy gets down for a sweep•AFP Is JP Duminy really going to the World Cup? Since his Test retirement before the start of last summer, Duminy has faded from the selection debate, but is likely to come back as the World Cup approaches. We may not even want to talk about when Duminy last scored a hundred because he only has four to his name (answer: the 2015 World Cup against Zimbabwe), but it’s worth noting that he only has one half-century from his last 20 ODI innings. Duminy may get more opportunity to score bigger if he is promoted to de Villiers’ No.4 spot, but he will need to start showing he can put in telling performances under pressure if he wants South Africa to rely on him at the World Cup.Who after (or instead of) Imran Tahir? Officially, Tahir has been rested from the ODI series because South Africa know what he can offer. Unofficially, the selectors may be thinking ahead in case they need someone else Tahir’s form has dipped sharply in the 2017-18 summer, where he took seven wickets in seven matches at 42.50, including going wicket-less in three of the four matches against India. Tahir is finding form at Durham but the door is open for one of Keshav Maharaj or Tabraiz Shamsi to make a strong case to leapfrog Tahir in the World Cup squad.Shamsi has slightly more ODI experience – seven caps to Maharaj’s two – and was also named the domestic one-day cricketer of the year at the CSA annual awards but Maharaj’s excellent showing in the second Test suggests the pair could be set for a showdown over the course of the series.Is a Steyn-less attack enough? South Africa have travelled with an inexperienced pace attack to Sri Lanka, made even more green by the absence of Morkel and Dale Steyn. Between them, Kagiso Rabada, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lungi Ngidi and Wiaan Mulder have 78 ODI caps, and 48 of those belong to Rabada. Steyn and Morkel have almost three times that number, 233, but the early indications are that neither will be at the World Cup.Morkel has retired and Steyn has not played an ODI since October 2016 and during the course of his recovery from a recent heel injury, Gibson indicated Steyn should focus on red-ball cricket. However, in a recent interview, Steyn has suggested he wants to be in contention for the World Cup squad, and if selected will use the tournament as a white-ball swansong.His offer is tempting for two reasons: South Africa could use his experience and they could also use the motivation of a marquee player to send off at the tournament. Though Faf du Plessis hinted the World Cup could mark the end for several seniors (Hashim Amla, for example), having Steyn – the bowler who sent down the ball the 2015 semi-final was last off – in the squad may serve as fuel to the Protea fire.

England learn from success of white-ball side, as flexibility gives spinners the space to shine

George Dobell at Pallekele18-Nov-2018If there has been an abiding criticism of England in recent years, it is that they have become, in effect, green-track bullies.There has been some truth in the criticism, too. They arrived in Sri Lanka having not won any of their previous 13 away Tests, after all, and without an overseas series win in almost three years. They were dangerous in England, certainly, but without the Duke’s ball and seam and swing-friendly conditions, their bowling attack could look toothless. Over the last couple of British winters, they have conceded 600 totals on four occasions: twice each in India and Australia. Over the same two seasons in England, they have conceded 400 only once.Sri Lanka knew all that. And they knew that England’s spin record – both delivering it and playing it – was modest. So they attempted to produce pitches that would exploit England’s enduring weakness and encourage their own strengths.To some extent they were successful, too. Only one wicket in the entire Kandy Test fell to seam bowling and 38 fell to spin. England’s seamers have, to date, taken just three wickets in the series. In normal circumstances, you would expect figures like that to bode ill for England.Yet here they are two-up with one to play. So well have they adapted to the challenge in front of them that they have their first series win in Asia since 2012 and their first in Sri Lanka since 2001.While Sri Lanka are clearly not the side they once were – how could they be after the retirements of Rangana Herath, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in recent times – the fact is they have defeated South Africa and Australia here over the last couple of years. They have won in Bangladesh and the UAE, too. This is, therefore, a significant victory.The key to England’s success is the options and depth their allrounders provide. To have two men in the top six (Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali) who have centuries and five-wicket hauls at Test level is an incredible asset for any captain. When you also throw in Sam Curran, whose first-innings 64 was vital, and Adil Rashid, who is averaging 22 from No. 9 in this series, you end up with a batting line-up that is both tough to finish off and can exploit a softening ball and weary bowlers. The combined value of England’s two tenth-wicket stands in this Test was 101. You don’t have to be a mathematician to understand the significance in a match where the margin was 57 runs.More than that, though, the all-round strength allows England selection options they could not afford if they were forced to pick a side containing six specialist batsmen, a keeper and four bowlers. While a few non-Asian sides might have played three spinners here, not many have also managed to field three seamers. In theory, at least, just about every base is covered.Moeen Ali claimed the key scalp of Niroshan Dickwella•Getty ImagesThat has been particularly true when picking the spin attack. In isolation, all three of England’s spinners have flaws. Rashid bowls too many four-balls; Moeen does not quite have the control to build pressure and Jack Leach can look just a little pedestrian.But in combination, it is their strengths that are highlighted. So Leach adds control and troubles right-handers, in particular. Moeen adds bite and troubles left-handers, especially. And Rashid, who has it in him to bowl wicket-taking balls on flat surfaces when the batsmen are on top, is the partnership breaker. When Root is able to combine all three of them – and throw in a few overs himself when required – he has a potent weapon.”The three of them complement each other beautifully,” Root said afterwards. “Jack gives a lot of control and the fact that they all spin the ball differently does help. It brings a lot of variations and gives the batters something to think about all the time.”The key difference, however, has been Leach. His control has allowed England to build pressure in a way that was noticeably absent in Australia and India. Maybe Moeen’s batting will retain his position as first choice when they return to England but Leach has quickly emerged as the most reliable of the trio and the man to whom Root turns most often. He has bowled more overs than either of them in this series.”When pressure is building at the other end with the likes of Jack bowling, it allows Moeen and Adil to be really aggressive and try to take important wickets. The impact Jack has had – the way he’s performed on these surfaces and shouldered the pressure despite not having a huge amount of experience – has been brilliant.”Somerset deserve a mention here. Some of the surfaces they have provided over recent years at Taunton have provided substantial assistance to Leach and co; a fact that has left some opponents deeply unimpressed. But bowling in those conditions appears to have developed Leach’s experience and confidence. And if that has helped England win in Asia,”Jack has taken all the experience that he’s had at Somerset bowling on those wickets at Ciderabad, or whatever they call it down there, and he’s done a fantastic job,” Root said.They are not especially easy to captain, though. All three are more likely to deliver far more four-balls than the likes of John Emburey or Ray Illingworth might have done in the past. As a result, Root is obliged to stick with in-out fields that can allow batsmen to pick off relatively easy singles. But, such is the pace – and the mentality – of the modern game that batsmen rarely seem content with such slim pickings. Still, Root deserves credit for keeping his side calm and focused in the field despite periods of play – not least on the fourth afternoon – when Sri Lanka looked capable of winning. Someone does need to have a quiet word with him about his bowling, though. To have bowled after lunch yesterday was madness; no wonder he admitted to a sleepless night and doubts over not asking Stokes to bowl.It might be simplistic to credit just Root here, anyway. When we reflect on this period in a few years, it may well be we conclude that the 2015 World Cup was the turning point in England’s fortunes. Having been humiliated in it, England – encouraged by Eoin Morgan, in particular and the inspirational example of Brendon McCullum – identified new players and a new way of playing that suited them which has been encouraged by a laid-back coaching team who emphasise enjoyment and skills more than discipline and restraint. It has clearly fed into the way in which they play their Test cricket”We are learning from the one-day side,” Root said. “Eoin said to the guys ‘go and play with freedom’ and you saw them embrace that. We saw a big improvement very quickly.

We are learning from the one-day side. Eoin said to the guys ‘go and play with freedom’ and you saw them embrace that. We saw a big improvement very quickly

“It’s not quite as straightforward in Test cricket. You can’t just say ‘swing as hard as you can’ but at times being able to take pressure off each other and have a good understanding of how you want to play in certain circumstances, can really help you. Sometimes you’ll make the wrong decision but get away with it because you’ve really thrown yourself into it.”In this part of the world, on surfaces which spin dramatically, it can be very difficult to trust your defence. The conditions have been extreme. So we’ve got to play to our advantage as much as we can. We saw that as an opportunity to play in that [aggressive] manner in these conditions.”It can be difficult to stay true to that. In one-day cricket things are all laid out for you; if you’re batting second for example. And the wickets are generally pretty good. In Test cricket, you have to be more adaptable. So we’re learning. But you are starting to see the confidence grow and an improvement within the squad. This is a very special win.”There are other factors. The investment in Lions tours and overseas placements has enabled several of this squad to arrive with some familiarity for the conditions. So has England’s superior fitness and agility in the field. Indeed, the fielding is the biggest point of difference between these two sides. Had Stokes missed with his shy at the stumps or Keaton Jennings, at short leg, not been able to parry the ball to Ben Foakes for catch, Sri Lanka could well have won.And, while Root deservedly won the Player-of-the-Match award, there were really significant innings from Rory Burns, Ben Foakes and Curran that played huge roles, too. Root is quite right when he credits the entire side.It was an especially significant performance for Leach, though. Not only did he register his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket, but he returned to a ground where he had endured one of the lowest points in his career and came away victorious.For it was here, in February last year, that Leach was left out of the England Lions side for the first unofficial Test against Sri Lanka A after struggling with his new bowling action. Despite finishing the 2016 season as the second-highest wicket-taker in Division One of the County Championship (he claimed 65 at 21.88), Leach had missed out on selection for the tours to Bangladesh and India and was then found to have an illegal action during routine tests at the national performance centre in Loughborough.Remedial work on his action had, initially, appeared to have gone well. But, playing a warm-up match on the tour, Leach went for 68 in 14 wicketless overs (the other specialist spinner, Ollie Rayner, took three for 55 from 22 overs by comparison) and was subsequently left out of the unofficial Test that followed.To have come back from that low and bowled England to victory in Asia is a remarkable achievement. It demonstrates courage, resilience, determination and a huge amount of hard work. He, and England, deserve all the praise that comes their way.

They lost a piece of their future when they failed, agonisingly, to qualify for the World Cup. With their performance in Sylhet, they have gained a little piece back

Liam Brickhill06-Nov-2018Zimbabwe last won an away Test almost exactly 17 years ago, with a team formed around the Flowers, Heath Streak and Henry Olonga: men quite literally old enough to have fathered many of the current Test side.Brandon Mavuta was a four-year-old pre-schooler the last time Zimbabwe won a Test anywhere apart from Harare. Wellington Masakadza was in grade three at Mbizi Primary School in Highfields. Hamilton, his older brother, was writing his A levels, or else he might have been Zimbabwe’s final remaining link to that last victorious touring team, having famously made a teenage debut hundred against West Indies in July 2001, five months before the win in Chattogram (then still known by the anglicized ‘Chittagong’).The elder Masakadza is approaching the end of his career now, and virtually an entire generation had passed without Zimbabwe savouring an away win before their victory in Sylhet. And while they have won Tests in Harare in the meantime – four of them, to be exact – they have also watched as administrative hassles, political sideshows and a financial meltdown enveloped the game in their country. They have watched as many teams turned their backs on Zimbabwe, who became outcasts on the world stage, and they have fought their way back onto the Test table, overcoming a six-year hiatus to return to the game’s top tier in 2011.Alas, once they got there they found a landscape much changed from the one upon which their cricketing forefathers had earned such a sturdy reputation at the turn of the millennium. Andy Flower played 63 Tests in a career spanning ten years, including games against every other Test team. Hamilton Masakadza has played 37 Tests over 17 years. He has never played a Test against England or Australia and he likely never will: Zimbabwe have no Test fixtures against either side in the current cycle of the Future Tours Programme, and the possibility of a bilateral Test series being organised outside of the FTP schedule is slim.Over the next five years, Zimbabwe have 18 scheduled Test matches to look forward to (by way of comparison, England have 49 over the same period, and neighbours South Africa 36) and seven of those will be against Afghanistan and Ireland. Those games will undoubtedly produce engaging cricket, as meetings between closely matched teams usually do, as this game between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh did, but without regular fixtures against the world’s best teams as well, Zimbabwe will never be able to take that next step.After all, that’s how Flower, Streak et al got to where they did in the cricket world. They played everyone, as often as possible. Flower played 14 Tests against Pakistan, 13 against Sri Lanka, 11 against New Zealand and nine against India – all above Zimbabwe in the pecking order, all demanding that Zimbabwe raise their game to compete, all providing invaluable experience for the next tough session or tight finish. A handful of Tests a year won’t allow the current generation that vital stepping stone in development.For those who doubt they’re capable, remember this was the team that beat Pakistan to a earn a 1-1 series result as an un-ranked Test side in 2013. They might have beaten Sri Lanka in Colombo last year too, were it not for some fifth-day heroics from Niroshan Dickwella and Asela Gunaratne.Andy Flower and Hamilton Masakadza take a drinks break•Getty ImagesRemember, also, that after the win against Pakistan, Zimbabwe didn’t play another Test for 11 months. In the 16 months since their near-miss against Sri Lanka, they had played just three Tests before this one in Sylhet. And yet they have managed to beat Bangladesh in their own backyard, something sides like Australia and England have struggled to do in recent times.It’s bad enough that Zimbabwe don’t play as many Tests as they could. It’s possibly even worse that their space in the ODI game is now shrinking too. Many thousands of words in columns and think-pieces have been dedicated to the why-the-hells and how-could-theys of the 10-team World Cup, but if you want a first-person account of the devastation wrought by Zimbabwe’s absence, look no further than Sikandar Raza, who told ESPNcricinfo: “I know that I would be playing with that pain for the rest of my career.”The finality of Raza’s words, spoken in the midst of post-Test celebrations, suggest Zimbabwe have reached the fifth stage of grief since their cataclysmic defeat to UAE: acceptance. He added that the historic Test win would help to numb that pain, and there was much to provide hope for the future during the 151-run victory.Mavuta and the youngest Masakadza, children when Zimbabwe last tasted a victory of this sort, played a vital role, and as debutants they are not scarred in the way their seniors have been by years in the wilderness or the failure at the World Cup Qualifier. Zimbabwe lost a piece of their future on that fateful, rainy day in Harare in March. With the performances of their rookies against Bangladesh, they have gained a little piece back.”Teams around the world will know that Zimbabwe is getting back to the team they were earlier,” coach Lalchand Rajput said after the latest win. “If you look at Zimbabwean cricket in the 90s, they had a fantastic team. This win will definitely revive that.”It’s a huge win for us, psychologically, mentally. We have started believing that we can’t only win at home, we can win abroad as well. This is the first step and we need to kick on from here.”If they are able to do that, it needn’t be another generation before Zimbabwe are toasting a Test victory again, on the road, in some far-flung corner of the cricketing world.