All posts by h716a5.icu

He is a mighty fine bowler but the addition of a defensive skill could make him a world-class one

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Christchurch27-Feb-2020Batsmen don’t like to be beaten, but if you’re the captain, and one of your fast bowlers is making the ball do all sorts of things in the nets, you might get excited even if you’re at the receiving end.Virat Kohli was certainly excited when Mohammed Shami swerved two successive balls into him in the nets at the Hagley Oval. “Ravi !” he yelled out to his coach, who was stationed where an umpire would be. ” (it’s reversing like it does in India)!”The next one beat Kohli’s inside edge and hit his front pad, and Shami raised a celebratory arm in his follow-through, a wide grin on his face. This time, Kohli didn’t need words to express what he felt, and simply went “ohoho!”As excited as Kohli was, he wasn’t going to let Shami walk all over him. To his next ball, he stepped out of his crease and crashed a flat-bat drive through the covers.” (you’ve ruined it),” Shami said, referring to the condition of the ball.” (So what do I do)?” Kohli replied. ” (Just stand back and keep getting hit on the pad)?”Those three balls, crudely, encapsulated Shami the Test bowler. Fast, skillful, relentlessly attacking, forcing batsmen into gladiatorial contests. When he is on the go, every ball is an event. In Test matches in India, it’s a routine occurrence for a crowd quietened by a longish partnership to come to life abruptly when Shami comes into the attack and zips his first or second ball past the edge. The same thought flashes through every spectator’s mind. “Something could happen here.”And ball after ball, Shami is at the batsman, making him play, never letting him relax. One hits the seam and moves, one way or another; another kicks up out of nowhere; the next one skids through quicker than expected. Almost everything is within that narrow band from fourth stump to middle stump.Relentlessly attacking.But there are times when a fast bowler can’t attack relentlessly. Times when there isn’t much happening in the air or off the pitch. Times when he might have to station a short extra-cover and a short midwicket and simply bowl good length, on off stump, and wait for a mistake. Times when he might have to bowl wide outside off stump to a 7-2 field.While conditions away from Asia offer fast bowlers more assistance, and should, all other things being equal, allow them to attack much more, it isn’t always the case because, well, all other things aren’t always equal. In Asia, India usually play with two high-quality spinners who bowl a bulk of the overs, and a fast bowler can afford to bowl short, intense bursts of all-out attack. They can’t always bowl this way overseas, especially since their batsmen may not always give them the same sort of cushion of runs that they do at home.This is why Ishant Sharma is an indispensable member of India’s overseas bowling attacks, even if they can pick Umesh Yadav over him on a lot of their home pitches, if they want to.Sharma can bowl the boring overs. Shami, well, not so much.Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma walk tall•BCCIThere were periods during New Zealand’s first innings at the Basin Reserve last week, for instance, when it might have helped India to have Shami bowl a boring over or two and help build some dot-ball pressure. But he kept attacking, sometimes with his lengths – there were a number of short balls to Tom Blundell, for instance, after he had been squared up by a couple of them early on – but mostly with his line, which was always intending to make the batsman play.Bowling an attacking line is a noble ambition, but it comes with a lower margin for error than a wider, defensive line. Get it slightly wrong, and you can bowl too straight and get picked off through the leg side, and if your line is right but your length is too full or too short, you can go for runs on both sides of the pitch, which is harder to set a field for.Shami didn’t bowl badly, as such, but he was well below his best, and went for nearly four an over. The effect of this was magnified by the circumstances: India had only made 165 in their first innings, and one more of their fast bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah, was also looking off-colour.Another bowler might have switched to a more defensive Plan B in those circumstances, but Shami largely kept bowling the same way. India may well have wanted him to keep bowling like that, of course, believing that quick wickets was their best way back into the match, and it’s a perfectly legitimate way of looking at things.But it’s also possible that Shami kept bowling in his usual way because it’s the only way he knows to bowl. He is certainly not shown too much evidence in his Test career so far that he is capable of bowling dry and playing the waiting game. It could be one reason for the disparity between his records in the first innings (not too flash) and the second innings (sensational).It remains to be seen what kind of spells Shami is required to deliver in Christchurch. But whether he is called on to bowl the boring overs or not, it’s one skill he could add to his CV to step up from being a mighty fine fast bowler to being a world-class one.

And are the Royals erring by sticking with Stokes at the top of the order?

ESPNcricinfo stats team22-Oct-2020The Rajasthan Royals have tinkered with their opening combination all through this season. They have tried five different opening combinations, which is the most by any team so far in this IPL. While none of their openers have done exceptionally well, Jos Buttler should have been an obvious choice for one of the opening slots given his excellent record in T20s as an opener.However, they have chosen to go with Ben Stokes as Robin Uthappa’s partner at the top in their last three innings. While Uthappa has shown promise batting at his preferred position – he hit a 22-ball 41 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore – Stokes has struggled to make use of the powerplay overs. Stokes’ four innings as opener this season before today had produced 80 runs at a strike rate of 112.67.Stokes’ struggle today was exacerbated by the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s tactic of using Rashid Khan against him. Stokes managed to score just seven runs off the six deliveries that Rashid bowled to him, before getting dismissed by the same bowler. Rashid had also created a chance off a previous delivery he had bowled to Stokes, which Vijay Shankar had dropped at midwicket. Stokes was on 17 off 19 deliveries when he was dropped.ESPNcricinfo LtdESPNcricinfo’s Luck Index reckons that the drop actually cost the Royals eight runs in the end, given how Stokes was struggling to force the pace. With batsmen like Rahul Tewatia and Jofra Archer – who has shown he can get some quick runs – still to bat, Luck Index reckons that the Royals would’ve managed to score 21 from the 12 balls (remember, Stokes was on 17 off 19 when he was dropped) that Stokes faced after he was dropped before being dismissed for 30 off 32. This is calculated by distributing the 12 balls that Stokes faced among the batsmen who remained unbeaten and, if necessary, those who didn’t bat in the innings. (This calculation takes into account the expected balls that each batsman is likely to play, based on their quality.)While quantifying the value of the drop, Luck Index also brings out the fact that the Royals perhaps are erring with their strategy of opening with Stokes.

And did the defending champions miss a trick by not bowling Bumrah when Pant came in?

Nagraj Gollapudi10-Nov-2020
Rahul Chahar out, Jayant Yadav in – why?
Rohit Sharma called it a tactical move, replacing Rahul Chahar, their only legspinner, with offspinner Jayant Yadav, who had played just one game this season prior to the final. That game was against the Capitals too, and Yadav did well, returning 3-0-18-0.What was the tactical bit there, though? With three of the specialist batsmen in the opposition being left-handers – Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer – the Mumbai Indians felt Yadav could be a better option than Chahar, who had a hard time in Qualifier 1, also against the Capitals, leaking 35 runs in two wicketless overs.This is the second time Yadav has been used by the Mumbai Indians as a tactical pick in the IPL. In Qualifier 1 of IPL 2019, against the Chennai Super Kings, he was brought in with the sole purpose of keeping Suresh Raina quiet, which he did successfully, getting Raina out caught and bowled for just 5.In many ways, it wasn’t a surprise that Yadav played the final. On Monday, Sharma had hinted that Yadav would be a “great option” keeping in mind the Capitals’ batting line-up. And the decision was an instant winner as Yadav bowled Dhawan off his third ball. That aside, according to Gautam Gambhir, who is on ESPNcricinfo’s expert panel, Yadav made the biggest impact when he bowled two consecutive dot balls to Hetmyer and denied Shreyas Iyer a chance to dominate him. Yadav finished with 4-0-25-1.Should Jasprit Bumrah have bowled as soon as Rishabh Pant came in?
Jasprit Bumrah had dismissed Rishabh Pant five times in nine innings before today in the IPL. When Pant reached the middle, the Capitals were in a shambles at 22 for 3 in the fourth over, and ESPNcricinfo Forecaster was predicting a final total of 137. Everything pointed to Sharma unleashing Bumrah, who had bowled just one over at that stage, but it didn’t happen.In the end, Pant hit a 38-ball 56, and the Capitals reached 156 for 7. So, did Sharma miss a play there?During the chat with the official broadcaster in over 14, the Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene conceded that his team was “probably not attacking enough” and had missed out on “challenging” Pant and Shreyas Iyer, who finished on an unbeaten 65 in 50 balls.By the time Bumrah was brought back for his second over, the Capitals were safer with Pant and Iyer settled – the Capitals were 75 for 3 after ten overs, with Forecaster pegged at 166. Pant, who got his first half-century this IPL, fell (to Nathan Coulter-Nile) with five overs remaining, leaving the Capitals at 118 for 4. Forecaster still said 166. Eventually they stopped ten short of that. Bumrah went wicketless and the Mumbai Indians had perhaps dodged a bullet.ESPNcricinfo LtdDid Shreyas Iyer slow down at the death?
Social media was abuzz after the Capitals finished at a below-par 156: why did Iyer show such little intent after Pant’s dismissal?Did he actually did slow down, though? And if yes, why? Let’s see.Iyer started well, getting 14 off the first ten balls he had faced. In the first 28 balls he faced, Iyer hit four fours and a six, and scored at a strike rate of 132. However, in the last 22 balls he faced, Iyer just had two fours and a six, with his strike rate coming down to 127. He took nine deliveries to move from 40 to 50.When Pant got out, the Capitals were 118 for 4 with five overs remaining. Iyer played just 16 of those 30 deliveries, and faced five dot balls. His strike rate in this phase was 144, which in the death overs is average when compared with the likes of, say, Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard, who score at nearly 200 in that phase.What did not help was that Yadav seemed to have the measure of Iyer, giving away just five runs from six deliveries against the Capitals’ captain.In the final two overs, Iyer looked like he was out of gas. Unfortunately for him, Hetmyer and Axar Patel made a combined 14 runs from 14 deliveries. In a similar scenario, the Pandya brothers along with Pollard would likely have scored double that to give the innings a powerful finish.Iyer could have done better for sure, but it was not entirely his fault.Should Anrich Nortje have bowled more?
Anrich Nortje has been one of better bowlers in powerplays this IPL, with an economy of 8. Yet, the South African quick was given just the one over in the first six in the final as the Mumbai Indians got to 61 for 1. By the time Nortje returned for his second over, with four overs remaining, only 20 runs were needed for the win.Nortje did eventually send back Sharma, but it was too late by then. As it turned out, Norjte couldn’t even finish his third over as the Mumbai Indians had wrapped up the win by then. It might not have changed the result, but a frontline bowler with a good recent record not bowling out his quota was not the best move on the Capitals’ part.

It’s not unusual for England to dominate the first Test of an India tour, but sealing the deal is tough

Andrew Miller08-Feb-2021Despite cementing their dominance of the first Test against India in Chennai, England’s fourth-day progress hit something of a lull in the final session when they found themselves caught between positivity and recklessness in setting a defendable total, and ended up reverting to a degree of negativity.After galloping along at more than four an over in the opening exchanges of their innings, the dismissal of Ollie Pope after tea brought about a change of tack, as they eked out 48 runs from the final 18 overs of their innings – an approach that ignited the passions of both the commentators at Chepauk, and the watching fans on social media.Nevertheless, given England’s record on their recent Test tours of India – as well as India’s reputation for bravado, both in the first innings of this match, and on their victorious tour of Australia last month – there were more than a few reasons why the slow road to the ascendancy might yet prove to have been the wise one, especially in the opening match of the series.Alastair Cook hit 60 and 104 not out on Test debut in Nagpur in 2006•AFP1st Test, Nagpur, 2005-06: Match drawn
This match was made memorable for Alastair Cook’s serene debut. As a 21-year-old, he made 60 and 104 not out at the top of England’s order, having flown halfway around the world from the Caribbean to fill two massive voids in their ranks: the captain, Michael Vaughan, had suffered a relapse of a chronic knee injury, while his deputy Marcus Trescothick – in a less enlightened era for mental-health awareness – had been spirited home with what was euphemistically described as a “mystery virus”, leaving the team in the untested hands of their 2005 Ashes hero, Andrew Flintoff.And it was against this backdrop that India, with their backs to the wall for much of the game – not least thanks to Matthew Hoggard’s heroic first-innings haul of 6 for 57 – decided to put down the hammer on the final afternoon of the Test, and give England’s rookie line-up a reminder of who’s the boss in such conditions.The equation looked safe enough from a distance – 368 to win on the final day following an overnight declaration, and this, remember, before the T20 revolution had transformed techniques and expectations. And when Hoggard scalped Virender Sehwag for a duck, the game seemed dead-set for a snore-draw, as Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid dropped anchor in a 167-run stand that spanned the rest of the first two sessions.That, however, would be the prelude to an attempted heist. When Jaffer fell for a diligent 100, Irfan Pathan was shunted up the order to No.4 with a remit to mix things up. He did just that with 35 from 25, with MS Dhoni also appearing ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, who nevertheless joined the fun with 28 not out from 19. England’s attack, featuring two debutant spinners in Monty Panesar and the one-cap wonder Ian Blackwell, just about held their nerve – and their catches – but the warning had been stark nonetheless when Tendulkar accepted an offer for bad light with 108 runs still needed from 70 balls.An unbroken 163-run stand between Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar sealed the Chennai Test for India in 2008•AFP1st Test, Chennai, 2008-09: India won by six wickets
Two years later, with Kevin Pietersen now at the helm, England found themselves in a remarkably similar situation in the opening Test of their campaign. This time it was Cook’s opening partner, Andrew Strauss, who set the match agenda, reeling off twin centuries – 123 in the first and 108 in the second – to build on another committed bowling effort and set up a declaration that seemed, at the time, to be the perfect balance of dangled carrot and dangled rope.The equation was 387 in four sessions – not dissimilar to the sort of figure that England might have ended up setting India in this current contest, had Joe Root waved them in during Jos Buttler’s and Dom Bess’ go-slow. That target, however, hadn’t factored in the post-modern thwacking of Sehwag, whose frenzied opening gambit ripped the game wide open in the space of 23 overs.From the outset, Sehwag climbed into the new-ball offerings of Steve Harmison and James Anderson, crashing eight fours and two sixes in reaching a 32-ball fifty almost before his partner Gautam Gambhir had emerged from single figures. He continued on his merry way when the spinners entered the fray, and though Graeme Swann eventually scalped him for 83 from 68 balls, the daunting target had been reduced to rubble by the close.Enter Tendulkar, whose serene final-day century had the match sewn up by tea, and finally sealed – to huge acclaim from the Chepauk crowd – with an hour to spare. The achievement was especially poignant in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, which had almost led to the tour being cancelled, and England were unable to regain their bearings in the two-match series, which finished with an uneventful draw in Mohali.”You think about if it goes wrong [and] what will happen,” Alastair Cook said of his relatively conservative declaration in Rajkot in 2016•Associated Press1st Test, Rajkot, 2016-17: Match drawn
The one that got away as far as England are concerned, although as a central figure in both of the contests above, Cook – now captain – clearly had his reasons for reticence when England once again claimed the early ascendancy on a tour of India.”Bat once, bat big” had been the message to England’s current crop in India, and four years ago in Rajkot, they seemed to have given themselves the chance to do just that after racking up 537 over the course of the first five sessions, with centuries for Joe Root (124), Moeen Ali (117) and Ben Stokes (128).India, however, ground their way close to parity with 488, thanks to a hefty second-wicket stand of 209 between Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara, which left Cook himself in a bit of a bind as he reasserted England’s dominance with a second-innings 130. What sort of target dare he leave India on the final afternoon, given what he knew they could be capable of?In the end, he left them an equation of 310 in 49 overs, and was made to regret his caution by the close, as India collapsed to 172 for 6 with only Virat Kohli’s 49 not out preventing further damage. It was the only sniff that England would get all series, as India responded to the scare with four crushing victories in a row.

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Reflecting on that contest during the lunch-break during the ongoing Chennai Test, Cook – now a Channel 4 pundit – admitted that the fear of what-might-have-been had held him back from being more proactive.”You think about if it goes wrong [and] what will happen,” Cook said. “Maybe that’s the wrong way to think about it. Maybe you should have just been thinking ‘this is the positive way’ and maybe that’s my mindset. I went with 400 [sic] then and I’ve thought ‘have I just gone too many?'”There are so many things, so many permutations. And you’ve got to be so reactive. The most important thing is that England want to remain in control. If they suddenly lose two or three quick wickets, then they lose that control and India come back into the game.”Still, whatever happens for England, at least they have proven they can bat time in Indian conditions, which was perhaps the key lesson they took away from their one unmitigated failure in a recent first-Test in India. In 2012-13, they were routed by nine wickets in Ahmedabad, after failing to recover from their first-innings collapse of 191 all out. But Cook set the agenda second-time around with a batting 176, and England responded to his lead by turning the tables for a 2-1 Test series win.

Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul put on 126 runs together for the first wicket

Sampath Bandarupalli12-Aug-2021126 Partnership runs for the first wicket between KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, the first century opening stand for India outside Asia in Tests since the start of 2011. The last India opening pair to share a century stand overseas was Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who put on 137 in India’s second innings at Centurion in 2010.1 Rahul and Sharma are also the first visiting pair with a century stand in England since August 2016. The 126-run stand is also the highest opening partnership in England in this period, alongside Alastair Cook and Alex Hales against Pakistan in Birmingham in 2016.126 The partnership of 126 between Rahul and Sharma is the second-highest by a visiting team in England after being put in to bat. Michael Slater and Mark Taylor shared a 128-run stand in 1993 at Old Trafford.20.4 Overs per innings before the fall of the first wicket for India overseas in 2021. Between 2011 and 2020, the Indian opening pair lasted only 6.4 overs on an average in Tests outside Asia.ESPNcricinfo Ltd43.4 Overs batted by India’s opening pair of Rahul and Sharma on Thursday, the second-longest opening stand for India outside Asia since 1998. Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik take the top place as they batted out 56.1 overs for a 153-run stand in Cape Town in 2007.5 Instances of India’s opening partnership lasting 20 or more overs in Tests outside Asia since the start of 2011. All the five instances came in 2021, including twice in the ongoing series against England.247.5 Balls per dismissal for Sharma during the first 20 overs of innings away from home this year. Across nine away innings in 2021, Sharma got out just twice before the end of 20 overs.4 Hundreds by Indian openers in Test cricket outside Asia since the start of 2015. All those four are by Rahul – twice in England and one each in Australia and West Indies.

England’s white-ball captain has struggled with his batting recently and he has a poor record in Asia, but he still offers value as a leader and finisher

Alan Gardner21-Oct-2021

“Every moment in your life is a turning point and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn. No line can be erased.”
– Anton Chigurh, No Country For Old Men

Eoin Morgan has always been a matter-of-fact sort of cricketer, not given to the fatalism that dogs some of his colleagues. But he will know that decisions have consequences – and in cricket, to borrow from Chigurh, the cold-blooded killer of Cormac McCarthy’s novel, the accounting of the scorebook is always scrupulous.Morgan heads into the T20 World Cup, a tournament that could well be his last as England captain, in some of the worst form of his career. He will be hoping that the shape is not already drawn.Can England’s Iceman upend the wisdom of McCarthy’s hitman?Fortunately, it will not simply come down to the toss of a coin – Chigurh’s occasional method of offering would-be victims a different fate – although Morgan also well knows the important role luck plays in the career of a successful captain. Sometimes four years of World Cup planning comes down to a fortunate deflection off the back of a bat.Related

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We should rewind to that heady day at Lord’s two years ago. In the wake of England men’s maiden 50-over triumph, speculation swirled that that could be that for Morgan, only 33 at the time but a man who has always displayed a healthy sense of detachment from the game. It was not until October, more than three months after the World Cup final, that Morgan confirmed his intention to carry on. Few could have predicted how life would change in the time since.He joined up with England in Dubai a few days ago – after the small matter of the IPL final – with the team’s ambition to become the first to hold 50-over and 20-over men’s titles at the same time intact. Kolkata Knight Riders saw the benefit of his captaincy: they put together a run of seven wins from nine before losing out to Chennai Super Kings at the last. But with a single half-century in 38 white-ball innings in 2021 – and that in an ODI against an overmatched Sri Lanka – there is no way to gloss his waning batting returns.In his first press conference ahead of the T20 World Cup, he admitted that dropping himself was an option if it benefited the team. The next couple of weeks are likely to tell us whether the Morgan era, one of unprecedented limited-overs success for England, is soon to come to a close.

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This, to be fair, was not exactly the plan. When Morgan spoke in 2019 of his desire to continue, he had the T20 World Cup in mind – just not this one. “I still feel I have a lot to offer,” he said. “I won’t say I’ll be finished after the next World Cup, as I’d be afraid I’ll only creep over the line and maybe fall off. I don’t want to let anyone down. I want to drive through the World Cup in Australia and then make a call after that.”Instead, Covid-19 made the call for him. The 2020 tournament was deferred and rather than a World Cup played on hard, bouncy Australian surfaces, a war of attrition in the UAE awaits. Even before factoring in the pitches produced for the second half of the IPL – which threaten to become increasingly draining to bat on as the ICC tournament progresses – Morgan has ended up on the outer limits of his own predicted timeline. And the desert can be an unforgiving place.The touring treadmill: Morgan has played over 40 limited-overs matches this year – in England, India and the UAE – and captained his sides in each of them•Deepak Malik/BCCIMorgan’s recent struggles have been of a piece with his record in Asia, where slow pitches and slow bowlers proliferate. In all T20 over the last five years, he averages almost nine runs more per dismissal against pace and has a strike rate of 145.49, compared to 124.84 against spin. Although he enjoyed a productive IPL in the UAE last year – scoring 418 runs at rate of 138.41 – since the start of 2016, he averages 20 and strikes at 116 in Asia and the Caribbean.Nor is that the worst of it. In 2021, starting with England’s T20I series against India in March, Morgan has reached 30 five times in 35 innings, with a high score of 47 not out. More than half of his innings have been in Asia, where he is averaging 11.06 and striking at 98.22. Worryingly for England, in this season’s IPL, which kicked off in India before returning to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah after a Covid-enforced hiatus, his returns have even dipped against pace – seven dismissals from 81 balls faced, for an average of 9.57 and a strike rate of 82.71.For Morgan, the signposts along the road to the World Cup appear to be pointing in only one direction. But two things have to be weighed against the doom-mongering: his importance as a leader, and his likely role with the bat.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe first is a complicated matter likely to bring out the keyboard warriors – but even if you set aside KKR’s resurgence, his inspirational status with England is not in question. Under Morgan, appointed amid the wreckage of England’s abject 2015 World Cup campaign, the most inhibited of white-ball teams suddenly whipped off their starched pyjamas to reveal a posing pouch.Reigning 50-over world champions, they were the width of Carlos Brathwaite’s blade from winning the last T20 World Cup, and go into the upcoming tournament as the No. 1-ranked side, victorious in nine of their last 11 bilateral T20I series.As for England’s preferred batting order, a clearer picture may be starting to emerge – with Ben Stokes’ enforced absence arguably making some of their decision-making easier. Jason Roy and Jos Buttler are pencilled in as attacking openers, Dawid Malan is the anchor at No. 3, and then England can turn to the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali to take down spin during the middle overs.That would leave Morgan as the team’s de facto finisher, the potential benefit of which could be twofold for England: firstly by preventing him from getting stuck in slower bowlers’ crosshairs – his first-ten balls dot percentage was above 50% at the IPL – and then allowing him to maximise his strengths against pace at the death.Sealed with a six: Morgan finishes off in style against Pakistan, 2010•Stu Forster/Getty ImagesThis isn’t the first time he has been suggested for the role but, whether by design or circumstance, Morgan seems to be heading that way. As KKR found their mojo, he slid steadily down the order from No. 4 to No. 6 – even coming in as low as No. 7 in the eliminator against Royal Challengers Bangalore. His last two T20I innings were also at No. 6.Against Pakistan in July, on an unusually spin-friendly Old Trafford surface, his 21 off 12, which included twice launching Hasan Ali for six in the 18th over, was crucial in England reaching their target with two balls to spare.

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“I am very lucky to be in a position where I have been through stages like this in my career. I think the longer you go without contributing a significant score, the closer you are to actually contributing. And that’s coming from experience.” Morgan’s reply when asked about his poor run during the IPL group stage might seem like curiously circular logic – form is temporary, class is permanent taken to the nth degree – but it’s true that he is well versed in dealing with the vagaries of life as a batter.In late 2014, as England ploughed nose first into the dirt on their tour of Sri Lanka and Alastair Cook’s ODI captaincy became increasingly untenable, Morgan was being touted as the alternative. The problem was, he too was in a rut – as bad if not worse than Cook’s. In 31 limited-overs innings from England’s 2013-14 trip to Australia to the end of the year, Morgan averaged 19.32, scoring just three half-centuries.Swings and roundabouts? Morgan’s career has been a graph of peaks and troughs following close on the heels of each other•Surjeet Yadav/Getty ImagesAfter England finally grasped the nettle, with the World Cup looming, Morgan scored a century in the ODI tri-series in Sydney, only to follow up with 92 runs, including four ducks, in his next eight innings. And we all know how that trip turned out.England stuck with him despite their World Cup embarrassment, and Morgan soon rediscovered his touch. Now captain of both white-ball sides, he averaged above 50 across formats as he and Trevor Bayliss set about their game-changing agenda – a central tenet of which was that players would be given licence to fail so long as they were following the blueprint of taking no backward step. Sure enough, another dip followed, as Morgan went 23 innings without a fifty – a run that encompassed England’s run to the 2016 World T20 final.Rather than an end to “boom and bust”, as UK chancellor Gordon Brown once optimistically promised, such cycles have been a defining feature of Morgan’s time in charge. The upside is he knows how to roll with the good times. While the readout from the last six months is pretty grim, in the two years before that, Morgan was right in the vanguard of middle-order T20 batters. Between March 2019 and before the start of the IPL earlier this year, he scored 1237 runs at an average of 42.65 and a strike rate of 161.48 – among players who batted 15 or more times at Nos. 4-6 in that period, only three (Andre Russell, Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard) scored more quickly.There is an in-built volatility to life as a middle-order batter in T20, something that Morgan has long reconciled himself to. “The nature of T20 cricket and where I bat means I always have to take quite high-risk options and I’ve come to terms with that,” he said earlier in the week. “It’s just something you deal with.”It may also be relevant that since his form began to tail off again, Morgan has barely had a break. In 2021, he has played 40 games of T20 cricket for four different teams – England, Middlesex, London Spirit and KKR – captaining the side in all of them, while at the same time having to deal with various quarantine spells and restrictions brought on by the pandemic in India, England and the UAE. Morgan, who became a father for the first time last year, has previously described sustained life in bubbles as “untenable” .ESPNcricinfo LtdWe live in relatively enlightened times, where Stokes, for instance, was able to step away from the game to focus on his well-being. But the treadmill of top-level cricket remains unforgiving.

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More than a decade ago, at the Dubai International Stadium where England will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against West Indies on Saturday, Morgan played one of the innings that first marked him out as a special talent. Walking in after Paul Collingwood’s side had been reduced to 18 for 3 inside the powerplay, Morgan took his time to size up the Pakistan attack – six runs off his first ten balls (six dots), ten off his first 20. Then, from 14 off 26, he raced through the gears, thrashing 53 from his next 25, including nine boundaries off the pace bowling of Umar Gul and Abdul Razzaq, as England reached their target with nine deliveries to spare. His partner throughout, Kevin Pietersen, made 43 off 43.Much has changed since then. Morgan is a T20 World Cup winner, and the only England men’s captain to lift the 50-over World Cup, as well as their leading run scorer and most-capped player in both formats. After eight seasons of playing in the IPL, last week he reached his first final – although the manner of KKR’s win in the second qualifier rather summed up the fix he is in. Morgan walked out with ten needed to win from 12 balls but could only make a three-ball duck; Knight Riders started the last over needing seven before flopping over the line from the penultimate delivery.Can Morgan rediscover his mojo with the bat over the next few weeks? Is there enough gas in the tank to take him not just through this tournament but to another T20 World Cup – the one in Australia that he had targeted all along – in 12 months’ time? Morgan is already one of England’s greatest captains, and as ever, team success will matter more than his personal ledger. Nevertheless, the accounting is inescapable. All followed to this.

Cameron Green and Marnus Labuschagne among those who could be important come 2023

Andrew McGlashan22-Feb-2022It’s a good quiz question to name the XI that made up Australia’s most recent men’s ODI team. If you want to cheat, here’s the scorecard from the match in Barbados last July.The three games against West Indies on that tour were Australia’s only matches in the format in 2021. They have played just three series since the pandemic began (winning them all).A series against New Zealand earlier this month was postponed due to quarantine requirements but Australia will finally return to the format in late March against Pakistan. Although there is a T20 World Cup title defence to plot for in just seven months, planning for the 2023 ODI World Cup in India – which has been pushed back to October amid the Covid schedule crunch – is very much in the minds of the selectors.”When you say 2023 World Cup, it feels like it’s a long way away but I think it’s about 30 games which isn’t many,” national selector George Bailey said.As in the West Indies, Australia will not have a full-strength side available. Pat Cummins and David Warner have been rested along with Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, who were both in the Caribbean, while Glenn Maxwell is unavailable due to his wedding. However, Steven Smith is set to play his first ODIs since facing India in late 2020 when he smashed back-to-back hundreds.But with an eye on 2023, of most significance is getting games and experience into players who are still trying to forge ODI careers, returning to the fold or in some cases have yet to start but could play a role in India.There are four who stand out: Cameron Green, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Josh Inglis.Green cemented his Test position during the Ashes with a series where his bowling thrived and his batting came good at the end after some technical work. To date he has just one ODI under his belt and his overall List A numbers (batting average 31.31 and bowling average 56.40) are underwhelming compared to his first-class figures although there is little doubt he can flourish as his 144 off 101 balls against South Australia last season showed.With Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis playing similar roles to Green when it comes to 50-over cricket there could be a squeeze for allrounder positions but he is likely to get opportunity to state his case.”We love Greeny’s skillset, think it will fit really well into one-day cricket,” Bailey said. “He hasn’t played a great deal of one-day cricket, but we think if we can start to expose him with both skillsets – bat and ball – then he could be really important for us come 2023.”Labuschange has had a bit more of a chance in the format since his debut in early 2020 with 13 matches under his belt, a century against South Africa and an average of 39.41. Perhaps the only question to answer before the ODI World Cup is whether there is room for both him and Smith in the middle order although they combined impressively against India, at the SCG, in 2020 with a partnership of 136 in 16 overs.Cameron Green, Josh Inglis and Marnus Labuschagne will all hope to be part of the 2023 World Cup•Getty ImagesIn the absence of Warner against Pakistan he could be an option to open the batting with the development of his legspin also being closely watched for the added value it can bring.”Marn is a fantastic player of spin, again he hasn’t played a great deal of ODI cricket so what we have seen we really like,” Bailey said. “He also has the added skill of continuing to work on his legspin and that’s something we are keen to explore over the next little while, continuing to build that depth of all-round ability.”Head, who often batted in one-day style during the Ashes, could almost be a like-for-like replacement for Warner. Although he hasn’t featured in ODIs since 2018, he has a superb List A record that includes two double centuries, an average of 40.75 and a strike rate of 99.60 (Warner’s is 97.15). The ODI century he made in 2017 came opening the batting alongside Warner when the pair thrashed a stand of 284 in 41 overs against Pakistan.”I won’t jump out of my place on the selection and try to predict the batting order, but a number of players have that skillset,” Bailey said. “Our focus for these one-day games and for the foreseeable future is continuing to develop and give opportunity to those guys who we think might have supplementary skills in terms of bowling some overs or being particularly handy in the field.”Steven Smith has only played three ODIs since March 2020 but crunched two hundreds in those matches•Getty ImagesBailey had particularly big plaudits for Inglis after his impressive debut T20I series against Sri Lanka where he showed his versatility which could also be used in the one-day side. He is an option as wicketkeeper although is unlikely to unseat Alex Carey whose ODI returns have been very solid.”The highlights for me were how quickly he settled into playing his own game,” Bailey said. “Think that speaks volumes for a group when a player can come in and feel comfortable to express themselves and play the array of shots he’s got. In many ways it felt like we had the flexibility of two Glenn Maxwells through the middle. I loved the fact he was able to adapt the role a different times, batting at No. 3 then slipping down to No. 5…which is a great skillset at that level.”There is, potentially, another question to ponder ahead of 2023: will captain Aaron Finch make it to the tournament? His form, albeit in T20s, is again under the spotlight – his last three ODI knocks, a long time ago now in late 2020, were 114, 60 and 75 against India – and both he and Warner have earmarked the 50-over World Cup as their swansong.He will undergo further rehab in his troublesome knee ahead of the Pakistan tour which he carried through the T20 World Cup and has continued to be hampered by.”I don’t,” Bailey said when he was asked if he any doubts about Finch leading the team in both this year’s T20 World Cup and the ODI version. “But I’m not being silly here, I’m sure Finchy would have liked a few more runs in the series just gone but also putting into context he’s still battling that knee injury a little bit. I’m really excited at the fact that Finchy will get some one-day cricket in the near future and just that ability to spend some longer time at the crease will really benefit him.”One-day cricket has felt like the forgotten format for a little while amid the pandemic, a T20 focus and the Ashes. Australia now need to put the building blocks in place for India.

That they managed to score 180 despite a wobble suggests the opportunity cost of going hard all the way is not that high

Sidharth Monga03-Apr-20221:30

Did Punjab Kings get their tactics spot on?

It was clear at the auction table the kind of cricket Punjab Kings were going to play this season. They went after big hitters, and managed to successfully put together an exciting team. Eleven matches into the tournament, they are the only team batting at more than 10 an over in the powerplay. In fact, their 10.94 is 2.11 an over better than the next best. They are averaging 11 sixes per innings, only 1.5 behind the leaders Rajasthan Royals on that count. They have also lost 23 wickets, which makes it higher per innings than any other team.Some of this proactive batting approach has been dictated by their losing two tosses out of three, which means they have had to undertake the task of putting on dew-proof totals on two occasions. On both occasions, they have given it a red-hot go. That they haven’t been able to post those above-par totals is a different story; they still have one win out of two batting first.But it is refreshing to see them adopt the same approach against Chennai Super Kings even after getting bowled out for 137 against Kolkata Knight Riders in their previous such attempt. In that match, only when they had lost five wickets did they do something conventional: hold Odean Smith back for the death overs. Having lost that match, it must have taken a strong commitment to that style, especially after they lost two early wickets against Super Kings.Related

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Liam Livingstone, though, unleashed an all-out attack to threaten to take them past 200. That they couldn’t post such a huge total will be a matter of a small concern for them despite managing to win by a massive margin of 54 runs. Kings are clearly one of the most exciting teams to watch this IPL, but if they are missing one thing, it is depth in batting.Jonny Bairstow’s arrival will add to quality in the middle overs, but it won’t stretch their batting line-up beyond No. 7, which is where Smith bats. When the pitches get slower, it might become a bigger issue for them, but they still acknowledge that they can’t afford to play conservatively especially when batting first.Mayank Agarwal, their captain, spoke of the importance to keep playing in this manner but having the “emotional intelligence” to not get bogged down if it doesn’t come off. Agarwal himself hasn’t had a great start to the tournament – scores of 32, 1 and 4 – but he has come out batting with the same intent.That they managed to score 180 against Super Kings despite the wobble in the second half of the innings is a good example that the opportunity cost of going hard all the way is not that high. If it does come off, though, they can get to the kind of totals that provide you insurance against the dew.If they keep batting this way, it goes one of the two ways. They can get better at it, and it starts to come off spectacularly. Even when it doesn’t come off, it isn’t necessary they always end up with a below-par score. That’s something they seem to be aware of. You can file it under emotional intelligence or avoiding panic at losing wickets or even a match or two because sides batting first are losing anyway.Once pitches start to slow down, it will be another story. That can wait.

How Stokes, McCullum have breathed a new energy into English cricket

Vithushan Ehantharajah06-Jul-2022On the penultimate evenings of the Tests at Lord’s, Headingley and Edgbaston, Stuart Broad was padded up. He was not due in next in any of those situations: England were 216 for 5 and 183 for 2 against New Zealand, then 259 for 3 against India. But he was primed and ready to go for what you might term an “inverted night-watchman cameo”.Ben Stokes and the England dressing room came up with a much snappier term for it: “We called it ‘Nighthawk’,” revealed the England captain after the fifth Test against India, won emphatically by seven wickets following a record chase of 378.”He [Broad] was going out with half an hour left to play to try to literally slog. That’s where we are at the moment, it’s awesome.” The question was asked – what would constitute mission-accomplished for the Nighthawk? “Thirty off 10. Or zero off one,” Stokes replied.Perhaps that is the only shame of the last few weeks, that Broad has been unused in his new role, and the man himself is certainly relishing the new moniker, changing his Instagram bio to “Official Nighthawk”. While the Nighthawk remains in his nest for now, the rest are flying.It’s now four wins through chasing in a row for a team off the back of a run of one win in 17. A switch achieved with many of the same faces in many of the same roles, some of whom were thought to be on their last legs as Test cricketers.Stokes, along with Brendon McCullum, have breathed a new energy into the dressing room and the rest of English cricket. And for all the technical and analytical changes required going into this summer, they have mainly focused on keeping things as simple as possible. Something which has been spoken of by previous regimes, but never pulled off in this manner.”At the end of the day cricket is about taking 20 wickets and outscoring the other team,” said Stokes. “When you get real clarity about how you want to do things, it makes playing the game a hell of a lot easier.”It’s amusing to regard such a basic explanation of Test cricket as some kind of epiphany. But it has evidently liberated a group of cricketers who for the longest time played like every ball, every singular moment in a Test match could end them.That’s why Stokes and McCullum have made tweaks around the performance side to alleviate the stress. Meet times are no longer set in stone, training workloads depend on the individual and what they want to get out of net sessions. Stokes in particularly has been the main driver of a more casual approach, and it speaks of thoughts he has had on the formality around the English game for the decade he has been an active international.”I have been thinking stuff like that,” he said on the move away from rigidity. “But the first chat with Baz was – yeah we can do it this way – why not. As long as everyone goes out there at 11am (10.30am against India) and is comfortable in knowing that their preparation is good. They go out there and know everything has been done in the way they want to do it as individuals to go out and perform – then why wouldn’t you do it like that?”Related

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One element that has bugged him for some time is running and fielding drills on Test match mornings, even when you’re batting: “The warm-up thing was me saying, ‘why are we going to warm-up when we’re batting?!’ What is the point of doing a few run throughs to go up and sit in my training kit again.”It has taken away all the external pressures that playing international sport gives you – there’s enough on individuals and as a team as it is but taking all the other stuff away is why everything is so relaxed and calm and enjoyable at the moment.”The key pillars at the moment are something old and something blue. Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, who took England over the line at Edgbaston with an unbeaten stand of 269, are in the form of their lives. Both recorded centuries – their fifth and sixth of the year, respectively – and have seen their global stock rise further. Root has extended his lead at the top of the ICC batting rankings, while Bairstow has moved into the top 10.Bairstow’s dominance this summer, with an aggregate of 614 runs at an average of 102 and a strike rate of 100.16, has been a realisation of what many saw in him. Incredible hand-eye coordination, the hardest hitter in the set-up and a fierce competitive streak. Root on the other hand, while continuing his remarkable 2021 form, has added a few extra strings to his bow, with charges to the seamers and reverse lap-sweeps over the fence.Root revealed the Yorkshireman inside him still has a voice, asking him to get behind the ball and play with a straight bat. But he also ceded the voice of his captain is interrupting every now and again. Stokes, however, played down his impact.”I didn’t have any influence on that at all – that is Joe Root doing Joe Root things. When he played that reverse (against Shardul Thakur) we just said, ‘you’re a freak Joe, to be able to do that’. I’ve not said ‘oh make sure you get a reverse sweep in today mate’.”You’re going to see stuff like that from Jonny Bairstow over the last five weeks. Rooty – I am bored of talking how good he is – to see him add another bit to his game, which I thought was impossible because of how good he already was, it is awesome to see that.”Joe Root took out the reverse scoop•PA Photos/Getty ImagesTypically, as part of Stokes’ mantra for selflessness, he went on to further dampen talk of captaincy being as easy as he has made it look. Not just the on-field tactics which have been attacking and a key factor in England taking 20 wickets in all four Tests this summer, but the manner in which players are reaching new heights under his watch.”The captain is not defined by himself but by his players and the players he has around him,” he said. “And I’ve got an unbelievable group of players around me at the moment who are really committed to the cause of what we want to try and do. The backroom staff are absolutely phenomenal, I can’t take all the credit for this. I have been a part of something unbelievable over the last five weeks and hopefully something that will continue to work.”But not once I am ever going to 100 percent take credit for this because it isn’t that. Everyone has bought into this way of playing cricket and that is where success lies, that everyone is on the same wavelength. I am just the one ramming it home about how we want to do it.”

Having been poor in T20Is for the past several years, they were not expected to make the final

Andrew Fidel Fernando10-Sep-20225:52

Asia Cup final: are Sri Lanka the favourites?

Pathum Nissanka – the engine room
Like a go-kart gaining momentum as it comes down the hill, Pathum Nissanka has played better and better innings as the Asia Cup has gone on. He scored 3 in the bad loss to Afghanistan, but then made 20 off 19, in the victory against Bangladesh, before truly hitting his straps in the Super Fours.Related

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Against Afghanistan, he hit 35 off 28, and was part of a 62-run opening stand that set the platform for their chasing down 176 – a Sharjah ground record. Then came the fifties – the 52 off 37 against India, in which he and Mendis again put on an excellent opening stand. On Friday’s match against Pakistan, Mendis fell second ball, and Sri Lanka lost three wickets inside five overs, but Nissanka held the innings together, eventually finishing with 55 off 48, as Sri Lanka cruised home.His tournament strike rate of 118.70 isn’t particularly impressive, but he is Sri Lanka’s top scorer, with 165 runs.Dasun Shanaka’s six-hitting has strengthened Sri Lanka’s middle order•AFP/Getty ImagesMendis, Rajapaksa, and Shanaka – the power-hitters
While Nissanka has worked on giving the Sri Lankan innings substance, these are the batters who have provided firepower. Kusal Mendis has been the most prolific, rolling through a year in which he has been outstanding across formats, in both domestic and international cricket. He’s hit two fifties (against Bangladesh, and India), and struck at 158.16 through the tournament.Dasun Shanaka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa – the best six-hitters in the side – have struck in the 140s, but have taken chases deep. Rajapaksa’s best performance came against Afghanistan (in the Super Fours), whom he cracked 31 off 14 against, to put Sri Lanka on the brink of victory. Shanaka had a good outing against Bangladesh, when he hit 45 off 33.But they combined nicely against India – Rajapaksa making 25 off 17, and Shanaka 33 off 18, as they put on 64 together off 34 deliveries, to see Sri Lanka home.Maheesh Theekshana has fronted up to bowl the tough overs for Sri Lanka•AFP/Getty ImagesTheekshana’s economy, and Madushanka’s wickets
All through his T20I career, Maheesh Theekshana has been almost unfailingly miserly – his career economy rate of 6.53 a testament to how much discipline he brings to his unorthodox craft. In this tournament, he’s been no different. After 20 overs bowled, some of those in the powerplay, and others at the death, Theekshana has gone at just 6.85 an over, and claimed five wickets besides.On the seam-bowling front, no one has been more impressive than Dilshan Madushanka, and is in fact their highest wicket-taker alongside Wanindu Hasaranga, with six dismissals. In the absence of Dushmantha Chameera, his inswing (to the right-hander) with the new ball, has been frequently menacing. And he’s been good at the death, which had been a problem for Sri Lanka. He’s conceded just 44 from 30 deliveries he has sent down from the 16th over onwards. His inswinger to flatten Virat Kohli’s off and middle stumps is perhaps Sri Lanka’s most memorable moment of the tournament.