There is talent and spirit in this England side, though it is far from the finished article. For now, they should enjoy the champagne while it’s still cold.

George Dobell at The Oval23-Aug-2015There was something a little incongruous about the sprayed champagne, fireworks and glitter that greeted the end of the Oval Test: surely England have never seen an innings loss celebrated so enthusiastically.The celebration was not for the game, of course, but for the series. As the wag in the crowd remarked during the ceremony, though, “it felt like winning the lottery the day your wife left you”.”Wouldn’t that be like winning the lottery twice?” his friend asked. They laughed. There was little pain in this defeat for England and there won’t be much consolation in victory for Australia. They came for the Ashes, not encouragement.Perhaps it would be wrong to read too much into the result of this last Test. As Alastair Cook suggested afterwards, England were drained emotionally after Trent Bridge. And while the intentions were still good, just a little of the intensity had left their performance.And perhaps it is wrong to contextualise this series. The Ashes matters in its own right. It is an ending in itself. To many cricket followers – those who have packed the grounds this summer but may not make the fairly serious economic sacrifice in non-Ashes years – what comes next will matter little. Questions of quality or concerns about the future won’t bother them. England won the Ashes: the rest is an unnecessary detail.But that’s not the world in which we live and that’s not the schedule that England face. There is always another tour; another challenge. There is always context to consider and the future to plan. And, despite this victory, England will go to both the UAE and South Africa as underdogs.That may well be the way they like it. Coming into this summer, there were many who predicted a grim few months for England. New Zealand and Australia both looked strong opposition and it was feared that England would be thrashed in all formats.To have won four of the seven Tests and secured the Ashes is a triumph, then. Throw in the limited-overs success against New Zealand and England can reflect on a summer of impressive progress. Realistically, they could hardly have fared better.If that sounds hyperbolic, then consider how the season started. England returned from the Caribbean, where they had been held to a draw in the Test series, to a chaotic situation where their managing director and coach learned of their sacking from the media. They were in chaos.So this is a fine result. And while they benefited from the absence of Ryan Harris, home conditions, Brad Haddin’s failure to hold on to a chance offered by Joe Root at Cardiff and some odd Australian selections, they also benefited from some wise and calm coaching, a batting line-up that compensated for its fragility with its depth and a bowling attack that was strong enough to accommodate for one or two men having an off game. It speaks volumes that Cook rates this victory as his finest achievement.But problems remain; many of them familiar. They came into the summer looking for a new opening batsman and they still are. They came into the summer with questions to answer about both their ability to play spin and their ability to field a quality spin attack. Those questions remain. And for all the potential apparent in Jos Buttler’s white-ball batting, he has endured a pretty wretched Ashes against the red ball. England will retain faith, but as the careers of Mark Ramprakash and Graeme Hick showed us, talent alone isn’t always enough. For now, Buttler remains an unfulfilled talent at Test level.Ben Stokes drinks to England’s Ashes victory•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesHe is not the only one of England’s talented young players whose progress has stalled this summer. While Joe Root has confirmed his emergence as a world-class batsman, Gary Ballance – around whom England thought their batting would be built – has been dropped, James Taylor didn’t get a look in and Jonny Bairstow’s Oval performance suggested that the gap between county and international cricket has grown a little larger than is healthy.Maybe it is Ben Stokes who exemplifies the state of this England team better than anyone. Stokes has, at times this summer, looked a champion player. His century against New Zealand at Lord’s was a gem of an innings; his six-wicket haul against Australia at Trent Bridge a performance of which a swing bowler as talented as Jimmy Anderson would have been proud. In between times, he has taken a couple of outrageous catches, hit a couple of fine half-centuries and bowled some decent if unrewarded spells.But he has also, at times, looked like a novice. And what more could we expect? For Stokes, like many of this young England side, is learning his trade. He is 24. He is, like the team he represents, a work in progress.So while Cook’s prediction, even in the moment of triumph, for “more dark days in the future” may seem oddly negative, it is also realistic. Nobody should think that victory in the Investec Ashes means England are the finished article.But nor should they ignore his prediction of “really good days as well”. For there is talent and there is spirit in this side. And, unburdened by expectation, they will travel this winter with their hosts the ones feeling the burden of favouritism. Maybe England will surprise us once more. They are, at least, dangerous opposition and they appear to be enjoying the battle and the learning experience.As to the immediate future, England are likely to announce their limited-overs squad on Tuesday. Moeen Ali will probably to return to the top of the order – likely alongside Alex Hales – while there is a temptation to rest one or two players. Root is one obvious candidate, but Buttler, Stokes and Mark Wood might also benefit from a physical and mental break. Eoin Morgan, the limited-overs captain, is believed to want to field a full-strength side, but there is almost no point asking Stuart Broad or Jimmy Anderson to lace their boots again this season.As for those players not involved in the limited-overs squads – the likes of Ian Bell and Alastair Cook – a decision will be made about their workload in the coming days. Cook – with Essex left with little to play for – looks likely to take a decent break but Bell may be tempted to play for Warwickshire on T20 finals day this weekend. Judging by the weariness etched in his face, however, he may be better placed heading on holiday. He looks exhausted and, as the example of Jonathan Trott taught us, sometimes the player’s enthusiasm for the game needs to be managed for their own good.Perhaps such issues are details. England have reclaimed the Ashes 18 months after the nadir of Sydney. The squad – the coaches, the players, perhaps everyone involved in English cricket – deserves a moment of quiet satisfaction. The world hurtles on; the next hurdle will come soon enough. Enjoy the champagne while it’s still cold.

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Sep-2015Brad Haddin had words for Grant Elliott during the 2015 World Cup final•Quinn Rooney/Getty Images#ThingsThatMakeHaddinUncomfortable
The hashtag was born after Haddin revealed why he had been so aggressive towards New Zealand in the 2015 World Cup final, sending off several of their batsmen in less-than-polite fashion. It was because New Zealand – the team and country – had been so nice to the Australian team during their group game in Auckland that Haddin could not stand it anymore. “You know what? They deserved it,” Haddin had told the radio station . “They were that nice to us in New Zealand and we were that uncomfortable. I said in the team meeting: ‘I can’t stand for this anymore, we’re going at them as hard as we can … I’m not playing another one-day game, so they can suspend me for as long as they like.””I don’t really understand the hype …”
Before Australia arrived in London for the 2015 Ashes, England had just completed what was considered to be the most significant ODI series they had ever played – a high-octane batting exhibition against New Zealand. And Haddin simply scoffed at it. “I don’t really understand the hype around that one-day series,” Haddin had said. “We’d just come off a World Cup. I don’t understand what the excitement is about, and what this newfound form England found in that format. I’m a bit puzzled by it. We’d come off the World Cup and everyone had played – it was just like they were a couple of months too late.””They break quicker than anyone in the world.”
India were having a torrid time on their 2011-12 tour of Australia, losing the first two Tests by large margins. Ahead of the third match in Perth, Haddin laid into the visitors, attacking their team unity. “We know this side can be as fragile as any team in the world if things aren’t going their way and they can turn on each other and the media turns on them pretty quick,” he had told Sky Sports Radio Australia. “We knew if we could keep them out there and put the numbers like we did on the board we knew we’d get the rewards because they break quicker than anyone in the world.”The Neil Broom incident
The most controversial incident of Haddin’s career occurred when Michael Clarke seemingly bowled New Zealand batsman Neil Broom in an ODI in Perth in February 2009. Replays indicated that not only did Haddin have his gloves in front of the stumps to collect the delivery – which should have led to a call of no-ball from the umpires – but also that he might have dislodged the bails with his hands, and that the ball had passed just over the top of the stumps. Haddin responded angrily to New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori’s criticism of his conduct.”I’m pretty disappointed in Dan that he didn’t have the decency to come and speak to me after the game if he had an issue with it rather than air his thoughts in a press conference,” Haddin told AAP at the time. “I think the polite or the decent thing to do would be to come and ask me. He’s played a lot of cricket now and he knows too well what happens with these situations, so I thought it was a bit low. I think it’s quite poor. After looking at the replay, my hands were in front of the stumps. But the ball, I’m 100% positive, hit the bails first and then came up into my gloves.”Benn banned, Haddin fined
On the second day of the Perth Test between West Indies and Australia in 2009, there occurred an incident that led to Sulieman Benn being suspended for two ODIs, Haddin fined 25% of his match fee and Mitchell Johnson 10%. It began with a run-in between the bowler Benn, who was moving across to field a drive, and the non-striker Johnson, who was taking off for a single. The contact seemed incidental, with neither man at fault, but Haddin appeared to inflame the situation after completing the run, when he pointed his bat at Benn in admonition. “It was an incident which could have been avoided,” the match referee Chris Broad said. “No one likes to see cricketers pointing bats at their opponents or pushing each other away.”Haddin said later that the incident was “something that I’m not proud of.””Mickey was very, very insecure …”
Mickey Arthur was sacked as Australia coach in June 2013, before the Ashes in England. Later that year, Haddin was stinging in his criticism of Arthur’s tenure, and compared him unfavourably with his successor Darren Lehmann. “I don’t think he [Arthur] understood and was secure enough in himself to get us to where we needed to go … That wasn’t the Australian cricket team that I knew when I flew into Mohali … It was uncomfortable, walking into it. Guys jumping at shadows and the insecurity around everything that was being done, so just refreshing to get back here now and enjoy the game for what it is, a great game and been great for all of us.”

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jan-2016Dawlat Zadran struck in the next over, having Chamu Chibhabha caught behind for a duck•Chris WhiteoakZimbabwe continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. Elton Chigumbura’s stumps were rattled by Mirwais Ashraf•Chris WhiteoakAshraf dismissed Sikandar Raza in similar fashion, and Zimbabwe were soon tottering at 49 for 7•Chris WhiteoakHamilton Masakadza, though, stayed firm, his gritty 83 leading a recovery•Chris WhiteoakMasakadza added 104 for the eighth wicket with Graeme Cremer, who stroked 58, as Zimbabwe eventually mustered 175•Chris WhiteoakThe start of Afghanistan’s chase was marked by the intrusion of a feline visitor•Chris WhiteoakThe cat left the field, and Afghanistan did not last too long either, as wickets tumbled freely. Mohammad Shahzad was the only batsman to reach double figures, but was dismissed for 31 by Tendai Chisoro•Chris WhiteoakLuke Jongwe collected career-best figures of 5 for 6 to run through Afghanistan’s line-up in 16.1 overs•Chris WhiteoakJongwe and Neville Madziva took eight wickets between them, as Zimbabwe bowled Afghanistan out for 58 to pull one back in the five-match series•Chris Whiteoak

The year 2011 started promisingly for Carlos Brathwaite, with an international debut on the horizon, but on the eve of his maiden tour, he received news which completely shook his world

Melinda Farrell in Sydney04-Jan-20163:10

‘Pink Day very close to my heart’ – Carlos Brathwaite

It was going to be Carlos Brathwaite’s year.That year, 2011, started brilliantly for the 23-year-old allrounder when he made a half-century and took 7 for 90 in his first-class debut playing for the Combined Campuses and Colleges side.It continued superbly with a consistent season that brought a haul of 26 wickets in his first eight matches, and it was set to finish on a high when he was selected in the West Indies squad travelling to Bangladesh in October.Then, on the eve of the tour, his world crumbled.While preparing for the trip at his family’s home, Brathwaite’s mother, Joycelyn, told him she was suffering from severe pain under her arm.”We felt it and it felt like a lump,” said Brathwaite. “Me, personally, I prefer to go to a doctor and hear that nothing is wrong, as opposed to thinking nothing is wrong and then something is wrong.”So I urged her to go to the doctor, and there were two lumps. One was cancerous.”There was little time to absorb the news. Brathwaite was soon in Bangladesh, impressing selectors and earning his ODI and T20I debuts. But it was difficult to celebrate such success with Joycelyn battling breast cancer through bouts of chemotherapy.Instead, Brathwaite shaved his head to show solidarity and sent the photos home to show his support.”She took it better than I did,” Brathwaite says. “I was the one stressing all the time wondering if she was okay, crying at times, and she was always the one with a smile on her face.”By late 2012, Joycelyn was in remission. Brathwaite nevertheless struggled during that period of time – he repeatedly refers to it as “the ordeal” – to juggle supporting his mother and establishing himself as an international cricketer.”Through the ordeal I cried the whole night, slept away from home, because I couldn’t manage to stay with her and watch her going through it,” he said. “But she was really buoyant throughout, always smiling and cracking jokes.”She is a very spiritual person, and she was always saying ‘Just keep faith and God will come through for you’. And her ordeal showed me what God can do, and that is why I have the faith I have.”Brathwaite has not spoken publicly about his family’s experience until now, on the eve of Jane McGrath day at the Sydney Test, a match that now holds deep significance for him.The day before the match, when the West Indies posed for team photos in the iconic baggy pink caps synonymous with this Test, Brathwaite noticed the delegation of nurses and breast cancer sufferers from the McGrath foundation. He immediately walked over and hugged each of them.”That was nice because I have not shared the emotion about breast cancer for a while because we don’t see it as my mum having breast cancer anymore. We just see her as a normal person,” Brathwaite said.”Just to see someone who went through it and people that care for people going through it, I just felt the need to put my arm around them and say, ‘Thanks for the job you are doing.’ And then I went to the lady [with breast cancer] to say, ‘You are a fighter, you are a survivor and just keep going’.Carlos Brathwaite was overwhelmed with emoition on the eve of Jane McGrath day•Cricket Australia/Getty Images”Sometimes people need those encouraging words. It may not be a royal speech but they might just need a word or two to lift the spirits, lift the day and have an impact on their life.”Brathwaite has brought much-needed energy to this West Indies outfit and followed up a half-century on debut in Melbourne with another at the SCG. But this one had much greater significance. Having made 35 on the opening day, the allrounder provided the highlight of a gloomy, rain-sodden day with a swashbuckling 69 runs off 71 balls.”[Mum] messaged me and said the first 50 was for her,” he said. “So overnight she was telling me that I have 35 of her runs, so get the other 15 today and then start over fresh for mine.”While Braithwaite’s father, Chesterfield, had a major influence in his cricket career, his mother was the calming influence whenever things weren’t going well”One is Jekyll and one is Hyde. When they came together it makes the perfect parent,” Brathwaite said with a smile.And it is his mother’s experience that has taught him life skills, which he tries to apply at training and on the field.”Definitely discipline, to see the way she has had to be disciplined throughout the ordeal and then ultimately after the ordeal,” he said. “It is probably something she will have to live with for the rest of her life.”It is something I have been trying to work on for the longest while now, trying to do things that you have to do, not because you want to do it. Also, the faith and the charity that she shows.”You know, we have a lot of battles on the field, some battles even off the field, and the way that she handled her battle, keeping a smile on her face and looking to the father for help, that is something I also cherish and something I try to put in my life as well.”She is always the person that I can defer to. Even if she does not have a response she will have a listening ear, so she has been a very, very important part in my life, not just my career.”Joceylyn now plans to record a video for the McGrath Foundation, offering support and encouragement to breast cancer sufferers. Her son has his own message to families suffering the ordeal.”My family is a very close knit group, we are very supportive, and it is about supporting a person through that time.”It is also about the person having a positive outlook. A lot of doctors told my mum that her process was sped up because of her positive outlook, always smiling and laughing.”Amid all the traditional celebrations that take place before play on Jane McGrath day, and surrounded by pink-clad fans, Brathwaite’s thoughts will undoubtedly turn towards his mother back home.”I do not want to separate the occasion from the actual game itself,” he said. “But it means a lot to see the pink all around the ground and to know what we are playing for.”

Stats highlights from the first day of the Johannesburg Test between South Africa and England

Bharath Seervi14-Jan-20165 Instances of South Africa’s top four batsmen all getting out between 20 and 49 runs, including in this match. Their last such instance was against West Indies in Cape Town in 2007-08. The other three were all before their exile from International cricket in 1971. Three of those have been against England and this is the second such instances in Johannesburg. Incidentally, this was the first time in 37 Test innings that their top four all managed to score at least 20 runs. Their last such instances was also at the Wanderers, against Pakistan in February 2013.16.11 Stiaan van Zyl’s batting average as an opener in Tests – the second-worst among South Africa openers to play eight or more Tests. Only William Shalders averaged lower – 15.05 in ten Tests. Van Zyl has opened in ten innings in eight Tests and has made 145 runs with a highest of 34. Among openers from all teams, he is the only one, not to have scored more than 40 from eight or more Tests. In four innings when he has not opened, he has made scores of 101*, 29, 33 and 36 (batting at No.6 and 7). He averages 66.33 when he bats down the order and just 16.11 when he opens.0 Fifty-plus opening stands in the first innings of Tests at the Wanderers in 11 consecutive Tests, including this match where Dean Elgar and van Zyl added just 44 runs for the first wicket. The last opening stand of 50 or more runs in the first innings of a Test at the Wanderers was between Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith, who added 149 runs against West Indies in December 2003. Overall, there have been only four 50-plus opening partnerships at this venue in 36 matches – the lowest for any of the 24 venues that have hosted 35 or more Tests. The average opening stand per dismissal of 31.30 is the third-lowest among those venues.2012 The last time AB de Villiers had a strike of 90 or more in a Test innings of 25 or more runs; he had made 169 off 184 balls against Australia at the WACA in November 2012. In this innings of 36 runs in 40 balls, he had a strike rate of exactly 90, only the seventh time when he has scored 25 or more runs at a strike rate of 90-plus in Tests.1 Number of England wicketkeepers to dismiss the first four batsmen in an innings before Jonny Bairstow in this match. Jack Russell is the only other player to have done it earlier: he dismissed Australia’s top five batsmen at the MCG in 1990-91.1 Instances of South Africa playing three designated wicketkeepers in a Test series before this one. That instance was also against England in 2004-05, in a five-match series, when Thami Tsolekile kept in the first Test, de Villiers in the next two and Mark Boucher in the final two. In this series, De Villiers kept in the first test, Quinton de Kock in the second and now Dane Vilas in the third.2 Number of England players to play 125 or more Tests including Alastair Cook who is playing his 125th. Alec Stewart, who is the other one to do this, played 133 Tests. Click here for a list of players who have played 125 or more Tests.

A look at what each team must do to secure a berth in the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals

Shashank Kishore30-Nov-2015The ninth and final round of the Ranji Trophy begins on December 1, with seven quarter-final spots up for grabs. Only Mumbai are assured a knockout berth, having secured four outright wins to top their group irrespective of how they fare in their final clash. What are the seven possible teams that could join them? Here is a look at the possible scenarios:Group AFive out of the nine teams are in the hunt, with Delhi being the only ones who cannot control their fate, having completed their league engagements. Although Delhi currently top the table with 25 points from eight games, Bengal and Assam – who play each other in Guwahati – are also on the same number of points, with either side certain to leapfrog them. It is a fixture that could also decide which team tops the group, a proposition not many saw coming.Delhi would not mind an outright win either for Assam or Bengal, for that would mean they remain above the team that loses. If that match finishes with both sides walking away with at least one point, Delhi’s best chance would be to finish as the third qualifier from the group.Although Assam are sitting pretty, they would be well aware that a slip up that coincides with Vidarbha and Karnataka winning outright could cost them a knockout berth. Assam can make it through even if they lose outright, if both Vidarbha and Karnataka are kept to a solitary point. One point for Karnataka will mean they draw level with Assam on 25 points, but Assam would hold the aces with three outright wins to Karnataka’s two.Like Assam, Bengal are also not immediately in the firing line, and a first-innings lead or an outright win should see them through. But a loss that coincides with a couple of results going against them could upset their apple cart, given they have just two outright wins.The double-treble winning defending champions Karnataka need a first-innings lead against Maharashtra to progress, while an outright loss would bring their campaign to an end. If they concede the lead, however, they would need Assam to beat Bengal outright and Haryana, currently scrapping at the bottom of the group, taking at least three points against Vidarbha.Meanwhile, the equation is simple for Vidarbha: win and book a place in the knockouts for a second-year running. They could still hope to scrape through by virtue of a first-innings lead if a host of other results go their way.Group BAs many as six teams in Group B are vying for two spots, with Mumbai sitting pretty having sealed their knockout berth following their highest away chase in Ranji Trophy history, against Madhya Pradesh in Indore.Currently placed second, Gujarat have the tough task of facing a red-hot Mumbai in their own den. A first-innings lead, at least, should see them through to the knockouts. But they would be leaving their fate to their group rivals if they lose outright or kept to just one point.Punjab currently lie third and take on Tamil Nadu in a significant clash in Dindigul. With rains lashing India’s southern tip over the last two weeks, Punjab are right on the edge, needing maximum game time. While an outright win will see them through, just a lead would mean they would be dependent on other results.Like Punjab, TN too need full points. A win with a bonus point would seal their berth. But in the event of them winning without a bonus point, they will need Gujarat to beat Mumbai, hope the Uttar Pradesh-Baroda game ends in a draw, and that MP don’t beat Andhra with a bonus point.MP are also in with a slim chance, provided they win with a bonus point. If they don’t get the extra point, they will go to 23 and must hope there is no outright winner in either the TN-Punjab clash or in the UP-Baroda clash.Interestingly, UP and Baroda will be fighting a battle of their own and are in the least enviable position, needing to win with a bonus point to have any chance of qualifying. Even that may not be enough for UP if Gujarat and Punjab win outright.Group CFour sides are in contention for two slots, with Saurashtra, despite tailing off after posting four successive wins, best placed to top the group. They should back themselves to get a first-innings lead against Jammu & Kashmir to smoothen their passage into the last eight, where they could be boosted by the return of Cheteshwar Pujara, given he is unlikely to be in the scheme of things as far as limited-overs cricket with the national team is concerned.Things are unlikely to get tricky even if they are pipped by J&K. In the event that two other sides are tied on points with them, Saurashtra would still qualify given they have the maximum number of outright wins in the group.Also of consequence is the clash between Kerala and Himachal Pradesh in Mallapuram, with the winner assured of a quarter-final berth as well as promotion next year. The side that finds itself on the back foot will keenly follow Services, who play Tripura. With 20 points, Services need to win with a bonus point to throw their hat into the ring. For Jharkhand, a win against Hyderabad, placed second from bottom, is a must if they are to progress.

ESPNcricinfo picks out some of Brendon McCullum’s best limited-overs innings

Alagappan Muthu07-Feb-201650* off 25 balls v Australia, December 2005Brendon McCullum’s romance with Christchurch – his home now and soon to be the venue where he will retire as an international cricketer – began when he moved there in 2003. He was on his fifth date with the AMI stadium and Australia were the party poopers. A high-scoring thriller, and the Chappell-Hadlee trophy, had tipped their way once McCullum was dismissed with four runs needed off two balls. Three days later, a 3-0 whitewash was staring in the face – New Zealand were 74 runs adrift, had 42 balls to get them and only two wickets in hand. McCullum began on 1 off 1 but soon enough he was 50 off 25 balls with three fours and four sixes and victory was achieved with an over to spare.86* off 91 balls v Australia, February 2007The series Michael Hussey may well wish was erased from the record books, even if he had become Australia’s 17th captain in one-day cricket. No matter what he did, no matter how much he scored and no matter how well he led, New Zealand kept outdoing him. Case in point were the events at Seddon Park in Hamilton. New Zealand were 116 for 5 chasing 347. Dire. McCullum walked in and promptly strung together a record 165-run partnership with Craig McMillan. Directly out a dream. Until then (and for at least seven more years still) no New Zealand sixth-wicket pair had put on as many runs. But McCullum lost his senior partner in the final stretch and the tail began to crumble. “He will not lie down,” Ian Smith insisted on commentary. Forty-four in five overs became seven off six balls. This was McCullum’s moment and he took it, smacking Nathan Bracken for a six and four to seal the first and only whitewash by New Zealand over Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee series.77 off 43 balls v England, February 2008Having the most fours and sixes in a series has never been much of a feat for McCullum, but against England in 2007-08, he had the most runs – 261 of them in only five innings at an average of a 65.25, which was 2.5 times his career average at the time – 25.55. Of course, that didn’t mean he had stopped shooting first and asking questions later. He cruised to 77 off 43 balls at the top of the order this time in – you guessed it – Christchurch and the carnage was so compelling that no one wanted him to leave. England dropped him thrice, McCullum said thank you by hitting James Anderson for a hat-trick of sixes and his home crowd rose in salute as New Zealand took the trophy 3-1.Bad Baz: McCullum scoops a 150 kph thunderbolt into the delirious crowd at the AMI stadium, in February 2010•Getty Images131 off 129 balls v Pakistan, November 2009″It was really nice to score a century and win the game for New Zealand.” Only four times has McCullum ever had the occasion to say those words. Memorably, this one was after the kind of innings his supporters had been craving. He’d become a bit of a tease, scoring pretty cameos and nothing much of substance. Those too were fading – coming into this game, he had averaged 25.85 from 22 innings. But in Abu Dhabi, staving off the heat and a very good Pakistan attack, he dug in for 46.2 overs to hold his team together. He has never batted so long in a one-day game and crucially it came at a time when New Zealand needed it most. Five of his team-mates had fallen around him for single-figures. Of his own back (the crumbly nature of which must surely be contributing to his retirement at age 34), he took the total to 303 and spearheaded a 64-run victory.77 off 25 balls v England, February 2015It appeared the only plaudits McCullum would take from this game were from the way he captained. The army of slips he placed for his fast bowlers may well be cricket’s moment. “If you build it, he will come,” the voice told Kevin Costner. To McCullum, it must have said, “if you keep ’em, the nicks will come” and Tim Southee made damn sure they did. The target was 124, out came McCullum, bullied the opposition’s fast bowlers and recorded the fastest ever fifty in a World Cup – 18 balls. He would finish with 77 off 25, bowled of a full toss, and then stand his ground. Just in case it had been a no-ball. So much schadenfreude.59 off 26 balls v South Africa, March 2015What a difference a year makes. On March 24, 2014, Dale Steyn defended seven runs in the final over to deny New Zealand in the World T20. McCullum had been dismissed by then. On March 24, 2015, Steyn was bashed for 24 runs in five balls. McCullum was out in the middle then, chewing his gum and doing what he does best – decimate even the fiercest fast bowlers. Back of a length went for six back over Steyn’s head. The bouncer went for six over square leg’s head. And to keep the textbook from throwing a fit, there was a picture perfect cover drive too, singeing ankles. McCullum’s rapid fifty had set the foundation that Elliott built his monument on.McCullum was at his brutal best during the 2015 World Cup, blasting four fifties, and inspired New Zealand to the final with his attacking captaincy•AFP116* off 59 balls v Australia, February 2010″This could be six… It is six!” a newly 53-year old man shrieked. Perhaps Ian Smith had lost a good-natured bet on his birthday and had to sound like a 10-year old girl when describing McCullum, batting on 100, stepping outside off stump, bending the back knee to stare a Shaun Tait 150 kph thunderbolt in the eye and scoop it into the delirious crowd at the AMI stadium in Christchurch. That was the definitive moment that told the world McCullum could do whatever he wanted with pace on the ball. Or maybe it was the other one when he played the same shot to a 155 kph delivery. McCullum hit 103 runs from 47 deliveries of fast bowling that day. Mad Max got nothin’ on Bad Baz.91 off 55 balls v India, September 2012Six balls was all it took for India to bring McCullum to the crease, but for the next 15 overs, they were wondering the wisdom of that decision. New Zealand recovered from their horror start and secured victory thanks to McCullum’s fluency even on a slow Chennai pitch (and later to James Franklin’s slower balls). But this one wasn’t about big hits or trick shots – he maintained a strike-rate of 165.45 by running the 25 singles and two twos. Of course, the 11 fours and three sixes must have lent a hand.123 off 58 balls v Bangladesh, September 2012It was New Zealand’s first game of the World T20 and they were grouped with Pakistan and Bangladesh, who had once beaten them 4-0 in ODIs. One wrong step could have put them on a flight back home before the Super Eight stages began. But McCullum put the peripherals aside to play an innings that was hailed as a template for T20 batting. He made his own pace when the Pallekele surface didn’t offer any by charging down the track and used the short boundary on one side to significant advantage. For example, Shakib Al Hasan and Elias Sunny were caned for 45 runs between deep-extra cover and deep midwicket. Or it was simply a byproduct of wanting to make a statement. “Also the fact that the left-arm spinners have posed us with some problems in the past,” McCullum said after his match-winning innings. “It was nice to put them out to pasture for a while.”

With heroes like Corey Anderson and Ben Stokes, Mohammad Saifuddin could be the pace-bowling allrounder his country needs

Mohammad Isam30-Jan-2016Looking at Mohammad Saifuddin, you get a lingering feeling that he has the bit between the teeth often missing in pace-bowling allrounders from Bangladesh. He runs in hard to the crease and rushes into his bowling action, which gives him decent pace. With the bat, his role in the Under-19s side is to attack from a lower-order position.Against South Africa in the opening match, he took 3 for 30 and made an unbeaten 17. In the practice match against England, he was 46 not out and took two wickets. Clearly, he can contribute with bat and ball at this early stage of his career, though he considers himself a batting allrounder. He averages 30.38 with the bat in first-class cricket, where he has made two fifties for Chittagong Division. He has also taken 19 wickets at 35.63.At Youth ODI level, he has 35 wickets at 23.28 to go with a batting average of just 19.00 in 23 innings so far. There will be a time when he has to decide which part of his cricket he wants to develop more, and although it is too early to say whether he will fulfil the role of a pace-bowling allrounder in the senior team, his skills point him in the direction of a role Bangladesh have struggled with.Saifuddin is also quite tall and well-built, chest thrust out. His wicket celebrations are like Shahid Afridi’s though he insists it is his own style. He spoke without much inhibition in front of the large media contingent present in Cox’s Bazar, explaining his role in the team, which is to bowl ten tight overs and give a thrust with the bat towards the end of the innings.”Because we have a good spin attack, our coaches told me to check the run flow in the first ten overs,” he said. “I think we did a fair job, so it helped bowl out South Africa quickly. My role in every match is to give as few runs and take a wicket or two. I am not worried about how fast I am bowling. I just think about being economical.”I am mainly a batsman-cum-pace bowler. Maybe I am batting at No. 7 or 8 because of the team combination. I try to fulfil what is expected of me. I try to give batting and bowling enough thought when I do either.”Saifuddin hails from Feni, a little southeastern district that partly borders Tripura to its east. He has just begun studying accounting at Feni college. The story goes that his father wasn’t too keen on him playing cricket so, after being encouraged by someone in his neighbourhood, he snuck out to the age-group trials. He failed the first time but in 2010 got picked for the regional Under-15s side. He also played a lot of regional tournaments, mainly with taped-tennis balls and in the T20 format. Saifuddin said he learned bowling the yorker in these tournaments, though he is still working hard to master the delivery.”I used to play a lot of taped-tennis cricket in my childhood. So I had to bowl plenty of yorkers since those days. I got taped-tennis accuracy with the cricket ball. I got the habit of bowling yorkers from playing in T20 tournaments in in Laxmipur, Noakhali and Comilla. I am trying to get better at it. I try to bowl at least 20-25 yorkers during spot bowling after bowling 18-20 deliveries at a good length.”Saifuddin’s heroes are Corey Anderson and Ben Stokes, two of modern cricket’s most destructive allrounders. Bangladesh could do with one of those but it is far more encouraging that they now have an Under-19 cricketer who wants to be a pace-bowling allrounder, and not just a batsman.

He became the second-oldest man to reach 300 Test wickets – and possibly the least fit – but Rangana Herath’s story is the best of what sport has to offer

Andrew Fidel Fernando at Chester-le-Street28-May-2016Just after lunch, when Moeen Ali was gunning for a double-ton, he made a waddling dartboard out of Rangana Herath. Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka’s brick wall on the last tour, had begun to captain like one. Herath was one of seven fielders on the boundary, but it was him that Moeen picked on repeatedly. Moeen thumped the ball to Herath’s left and ran an easy two. He sent it skidding to Herath’s right and took another couple. At times it felt like Herath would be quicker if he rolled horizontally towards the ball. Just after lunch, when Moeen was gunning for a double-ton, Herath was a liability.

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There was a time when cricket was a liability to Herath. In the decade since his Test debut, his nation was besotted with mystery spin. For Muttiah Muralitharan, this was island love that ran deep, long and true. For Ajantha Mendis and his delicate fingers, Sri Lanka fizzed at first, then let infatuation slowly fizzle.Through all this, Herath found himself perpetually on the fringes. He was in some ways the modern progenitor of the carrom ball, but easily the least subtle proponent of it. The extended pinky finger when he delivers it might as well have an unfurling banner attached.So he subsisted on irregular A team tours, domestic matches in one of the most archaic first-class tournaments in the world, and on payment that was more like pocket money than a living wage. There was the job at a bank that he still holds dear; the brief stint in an English league that he still fondly remembers.In the decade since his Test debut, Rangana Herath was line-and-length black-and-white in a technicolour age. He was a slow-bowling nation’s surplus spin.

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One of Herath’s great strengths has been the ignorance batsmen have shown towards his craft. He is a disciple of flight and dip, yet when the ball meets the pitch, the deviation is modest and such bite as he gets is slow, not leaping and fizzing. Murali left top orders broken, of course. But even bowlers such as Graeme Swann or Saeed Ajmal have inspired more fear and reverence from opposition, who labelled them “world-class spinners” or “genuine matchwinners”. Herath has more wickets, with less fast-bowling support than both, but is more often awarded only second-rate appreciations. He is a “tough customer” and a “wily operator” they say, and though he is “always at you”, he might not quite be “incredibly difficult to play”.And Herath guards his secrets like a magician, even if he is not everyone’s version of a spin-wizard. “Just tried to put the ball in the right spot,” is all the explanation he ever gives. But if he doesn’t get extravagant turn, it is the batsmen he manoeuvres around the crease. They draw forward to the round-arm ball that drifts. They jam bats down on the dart at off stump. They play back to the lazy slider on the pads. They dance to Herath’s beat, though mostly they don’t know it, and hypnotically they are lured into traps, over cliffs.The selectors have not always understood this either. When long, wicketless spells come, they begin to doubt. Even after he became Sri Lanka’s most-consistent matchwinner since Murali, they have been quick drop him. In July last year, Sri Lanka left Herath out and failed to defend 377 in the fourth innings, against Pakistan. Upon his return in the next Test, he claimed 7 for 48 in an unbroken spell, and defended 176 from India.In a 17-year career in which only 68 Tests have been played, Herath has had several downfalls. Among them has been his own selectors’ seeming ignorance of his craft.

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Like his action, Herath’s appeals are generally gentle. He turns on his heels, holds out his arms like wings on a biplane, and backpedals towards the batsman. Other spinners have demanded wickets of umpires. On the hunt, Murali’s eyes used to implore. Herath has rarely yelled at teammates, and perhaps has never asked the question when he has felt it shouldn’t be out.When batting, he has been no different. In 2014 at Lord’s, he even famously walked when the match was there to save, and he wasn’t even out. Team-mates will say that though he is quiet, he is among the most generous in the dressing room. When he speaks about them in public, Herath bears this out. Like his action, so the man is gentle, keen and honest. Such virtues don’t always help sportsmen out.

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Rangana Herath finally notched his 300th Test wicket•Getty ImagesWhen the ball took the top edge of Steven Finn’s bat and Herath took the catch, he became the 30th man to 300 wickets. He became the second-oldest to the milestone, and possibly the least fit to it as well. But why mire ourselves in such pathetic details?If on some level sport is about the triumph of spirit over odds, if it is at all about life’s trials playing out in microcosm, then who better than this kegful of a Kurunegala man to lavish with admiration? His are 300 wickets are wrung from dry circumstances, and wrenched from a mean-spirited system. They are prised from cricket’s closed fist.Let Herath waddle in the outfield as long as he likes, I say. Let batsmen take the twos. To watch him bowl is to see the best of what sport has to offer. And who knows when we will see his like again?

When the new SSC was contriving excitement with a score of 26 for 5, Dinesh Chandimal embraced everything he is not and no matter what the surface was doing, he had to wrestle himself

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo14-Aug-2016Through the noughties, the SSC pitch was so flat Sri Lankans were granted a Test hundred there along with their birth certificates. There was a bleak, authoritarian air to SSC matches in that decade. Games took on the unsettling aspect of a military parade.Mahela Jayawardene scored hundreds almost by rote here, and towards the end of his career, appeared more relieved than joyful at the milestone, almost as if he would have been court-martialled for falling short. Captains then had Muttiah Muralitharan wheeling away for days on end. Like with the general’s favourite jeep, his wearing parts would be continually replaced – limbs reattached when they fell off, eyeballs popped back in their sockets when they went rolling along the floor.In 2014, though, the old pitch was dug up along with the fossilised remains of generations of bowlers, and a new layer of clay had been put down. It is on this new strip that Rangana Herath smothered Pakistan with slow, lovable left-arm, in 2014. It is this strip that had been so seamer-friendly last year, that it inspired sweary, caveman, head-banging from Ishant Sharma. And it is on this pitch that South Africa almost lost a Test – saved on that occasion by rain, and batting so sleep-inducing that even its memory might prevent the conclusion of this sent…But if there is a Sri Lanka batsman who is the opposite of the noughties SSC surface, it is Dinesh Chandimal. His strokeplay is by nature, effervescent. He is so talkative he could chat up a power pylon. Chandimal, as character and cricketer, is more like Galle on day five, where the outrageous routinely occurs. Even on his quieter outings, he is Headingley on the first morning. He drives wildly, cuts extravagantly, throws his every atom into the sweep, and is in general like a human tune at the crease. It is not always great, but it rarely fails to get a few feet tapping along.In this innings, though, when the new SSC was contriving excitement with a score of 26 for 5, Chandimal embraced everything he is not, and contrived for viewers the old SSC experience. He made 132 from 356, when less than a year ago he famously struck 162 not out from 169. From the three sessions that he batted through, his returns were 30, 27 and 41. This was ballad batting. The block and leave were played again and again: two endlessly alternating chords.If there were two strokes that woke you up like the passing of a freighter, they were the slogged four off Jon Holland, and the reverse-swept six against the turn of Nathan Lyon, hot on its heels. But soon enough, disruption forgotten, his innings, and the SSC, was allowed to drift peacefully off again.This transformation of character took so much out of Chandimal that he was unable to take the field after his almost six-hour innings. Often a verbal runaway train after he has scored a hundred, Chandimal could barely muster one-sentence replies after play on Sunday. “I was under pressure before this innings,” he said. “I didn’t play that well for the reverse swinging ball. Because of that, I changed my approach a bit.”Batting in partnership with Chandimal, it was Rangana Herath who provided the day’s liveliest moments. Clearly in the midst of a batting revival at this late stage of his career, Herath waddles to the middle frowning like an old man peeved to find kids playing on his lawn, and brandishes his stick irritably, slapping Josh Hazlewood over midwicket for four. Having exerted himself, he hobbled off soon enough, retiring hurt for 33 after he was hit in a nasty place. Thankfully, he recovered. His gentlepersonly bowling avatar was seen later in the day.Through their second-wicket stand, Australia have now moved towards parity. But it is partly because of Chandimal that Sri Lanka can still dream of that rare whitewash. His was not one of the SSC’s handout hundreds. No matter what the surface was doing, for this one, he had to wrestle himself.