'The most entertaining women's Test match I've seen'

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

The reactions from the cricketing world after women’s Tests made a return with a thrilling draw between England and India in Bristol

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jun-2021India’s return to Test cricket after over a six-year gap produced a compelling draw against England in Bristol. The visitors, asked to follow on, avoided defeat in a match where debutants played starring roles.

India, who were bowled out for 231 after England declared their first innings on 396 for 9, made 344 for 8 in their second innings before play was called off on day four.

Shafali Verma, making her debut at the age of 17, became the youngest to make two 50+ scores in a women’s Test.

Another debutant, Sneh Rana, came up with a match-saving 80* after taking a four-for in her 39.2 overs in England’s innings. She added an unbeaten century stand with fellow debutant Taniya Bhatia, who scored 44*.

Rise of Cameron Green and the Australia pace cartel

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Increase in Test-quality resources means Australia no longer so reliant on the “Big Three”

Alex Malcolm26-Dec-2021Strength in depth. That is what Australia are building in their burgeoning fast bowling cartel as England discovered on Boxing Day.Pat Cummins was hardly missed in Adelaide, but he took just five deliveries at the MCG to remind everyone why he’s still the No. 1-ranked bowler in the world. He nicked off Haseeb Hameed with a superb delivery in the second over and later did the same to Zak Crawley and Dawid Malan to bag three wickets in the first session.Josh Hazlewood, with 215 Test wickets at 25.63, has hardly played a part in the series since his brilliant seven-over burst on the opening morning at the Gabba that set the tone for what was to come. Hazlewood’s only duty on Boxing Day was to present Australia’s sixth-choice fast bowler, Scott Boland, with his brand-new Baggy Green cap. But he could well return from a side strain in Sydney or Hobart fresh as a daisy.Related

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Australia on top after Pat Cummins sets Boxing Day tone

Mitchell Starc, who starred in Adelaide as the leader of the attack, was surplus to requirements in the opening session, bowling just four overs and going largely unnoticed. But he returned after lunch to claim the prized scalp of Joe Root for the second time in two innings just as the England skipper had reached his third half-century of the series. He would later dismiss Jonny Bairstow for the ninth time in Test cricket with a brutal short ball just as Bairstow had begun to look comfortable on his return.Jhye Richardson, who took five in the fourth innings in Adelaide, and Michael Neser, who took important wickets in both innings of his debut Test, were both rested due to soreness despite both appearing to bowl well without discomfort at training on Christmas Eve. In their absence, Boland induced 13 false strokes from England batters in his first 60 balls in Test cricket, just one fewer than Cummins’ 14, which produced three wickets – and the Victorian later returned to pick up his first Test scalp.Australia’s fifth bowler, Cameron Green, bowled one of the best spells of the day in the middle session. He delivered 24 balls of sustained high pace, almost all above 140kph/87mph, including a peach at 144kph/89mph that jagged past the outside edge of Ben Stokes and had wicketkeeper Alex Carey reaching above his head. Stokes faced 17 of the 24 balls and scored just one run before holing out to point trying to manufacture a scoring shot from thin air. Green was then given a rest, only for Cummins to replace him at the Members’ End leaving England fans green with envy at such a luxury.As inept as England have been in this Ashes series, bowled out for under 200 for the third time in five innings and a record 12th time in the calendar year, Australia’s depth of quality in their fast-bowling ranks has reached new levels. Just 12 months after Cummins, Hazlewood, and Starc were bowled into the ground in all four Tests against India in a losing series, and only months after James Pattinson retired, Australia have used seven fast bowlers in five bowling innings in this series, combining for 38 of the 50 wickets taken at a cost of just 19.55 per scalp, and striking at 44.6 per dismissal.The major bonus has been Green. The 22-year-old didn’t take a wicket last summer, although he bowled better than his figures suggested.He is now bowling match-changing spells. He has taken the key wickets of Root and Stokes twice each in this series. His MCG spell might have been his best yet. England were hardly well placed at 4 for 110 but Stokes was beginning to accelerate having started patiently. He flicked Starc off his pads for four and then launched Nathan Lyon over long-on for six to move to 22 from 35 balls and at least give Australia something to think about.ESPNcricinfo LtdBut Green tied him down with Australia’s fastest spell of the day, and one of the most accurate. Australia’s No. 6, who averages 52.84 with the bat in first-class cricket and has eight first-class centuries, tied England’s great allrounder in knots with a spell as venomous as anything Starc or Cummins mustered. There was steep bounce, sharp seam movement, and unerring accuracy. Jos Buttler was almost Green’s second victim, cut in half by a ball that jagged off the seam and bounced just inches over middle and off. Green spoke on Christmas Eve about trying to get comfortable at Test level and avoiding feeling overwhelmed as a kid in Test cricket. He’s comfortable with the ball it seems. The next challenge is getting comfortable with the bat.His bowling has given Cummins a comfortable introduction to Test captaincy. He doesn’t need to overexert any of his quicks. Cummins bowled a six-over spell in the morning but no one bowled more than five-in-a-row thereafter and Green was able to be used in two four-over bursts.It has also afforded Australia’s selectors the opportunity to be cautious with any of their quicks if there is the mere hint of soreness, as they have done with Hazlewood, Richardson and Neser in Melbourne. They can even play horses for courses. Boland is an MCG specialist having taken 96 first-class wickets at 25.56 going into the Test, while Starc, Hazlewood, Richardson and Neser all average over 35 at the venue.Richardson and Neser, who are more dangerous in the swinging and seaming conditions, can be held back for more appropriate deployment. Green’s presence in the top six, provided his body holds up, could also give Australia the option to play two spinners if conditions suited.Australia will face far more skilled and obdurate batting line-ups than the one England have sent on this tour. But their reliance on the big three of Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood seems a distant memory.

Who are the youngest and oldest men to score a triple-century in Tests?

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

And how many teams have won a T20 despite four or more of their batters bagging ducks?

Steven Lynch26-Oct-2021If you multiply the number of runs Ian Botham scored in the Golden Jubilee Test in Bombay in 1979-80 (114) by the number of wickets he took (13) you get 1482. He almost beat it at Headingley in 1981 with 1393 (199×7). Does anyone surpass this in a Test? asked Vin de Silva from the United States

That’s a nice, simple way of looking at the all-round contribution to a Test. By this calculation Ian Botham’s performance in that special Test in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1979-80 comes in fifth, level with Garry Sobers (247 runs and six wickets) for West Indies vs England in Georgetown in 1967-68.Above them come South Africa’s Aubrey Faulkner with 1608 (201×8) against England in Johannesburg in 1909-10, George Giffen of Australia with 1616 (202×8) against England in Sydney in 1894-95, and West Indies’ Denis Atkinson with 1673 (239×7) against Australia in Bridgetown in 1954-55. But out on top is England’s Bill Edrich with 1704 (213×8) against South Africa at Old Trafford in 1947. Edrich scored 191 plus 22 not out and, after opening the bowling, took 4 for 95 and 4 for 77.There have been seven further instances of more than 1300 in a Test, including Mushtaq Mohammad twice and Botham and Sobers once more each. The others are Shakib Al Hasan, Jacques Kallis and Alan Davidson.So they didn’t feel left out, we did a similar calculation for wicketkeepers. Two South Africans lead the way here. Denis Lindsay is way out in front with 2008 (251 runs and eight dismissals) against Australia in Johannesburg in 1966-67, when he scored 69 and 182 and took eight catches in the match. In second place is AB de Villiers, with 1474 (134×11) against Pakistan in Jo’burg in 2012-13. Next come Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (1464 against Pakistan in Lahore in 2001-02), Budhi Kunderan of India (1380 against England in Madras in 1963-64) and England’s Jonny Bairstow (1260 against Sri Lanka at Headingley in 2016). There have been eight other instances of a keeper registering more than 1000, with Quinton de Kock responsible for three of those and BJ Watling two.The IPL elimination final was won by Kolkata Knight Riders despite four of their batters bagging ducks. Has any other team done this in the IPL? asked Michael McKenzie from Ireland

Kolkata Knight Riders won that eliminator against Delhi Capitals in Sharjah – and qualified for the IPL final – despite a stunning collapse from 123 for 1 to 130 for 7, with Nos. 5-8 in the order (Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan, Shakib Al Hasan and Sunil Narine) all being out for ducks. It was only the second such occurrence in the IPL. In Mumbai in 2012, MI defeated Chennai Super Kings even though Ambati Rayudu, Robin Peterson, Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga were all out for 0 as they almost made a mess of chasing 174 after being 147 for 2 in the 17th over.In men’s T20Is, Zimbabwe (105) beat West Indies (79 for 7) in Port-of-Spain in 2009-10, despite no fewer than six of their batters being out for 0. Two West Indians also bagged ducks: the total of eight was a record for any T20I until August 2019, when there were nine in the match between the Czech Republic (one duck) and Turkey (eight) in Ilfov County in Romania.There have also been two women’s T20Is which contained nine ducks. Mali suffered all nine in their first such match, when they were bowled out for six by Rwanda in Kigali in June 2019, and Maldives did likewise when flattened for eight (nine ducks, a single run off the bat and seven extras) by Nepal in Pokhara six months later.Who are the youngest and oldest men to score a triple-century in a Test? asked Mark Modrington from Australia

The youngest Test triple-centurion remains Garry Sobers, who was seven months past his 21st birthday when he made 365 not out for West Indies against Pakistan in Kingston in 1957-58. He was about three months younger than the only other 21-year-old Test triple-centurion, Don Bradman, in his 334 for Australia against England at Headingley in 1930. England’s Len Hutton was 22 when he amassed 364 against Australia at The Oval in 1938, and Hanif Mohammad 23 for his 337 for Pakistan vs West Indies in Bridgetown in 1957-58.The oldest man to get there was England’s Andy Sandham, who was 39 when he made 325 – the first Test triple-century – against West Indies in Kingston in 1929-30 (he added 50 in the second innings of what turned out to be his final Test). Graham Gooch had just turned 37 when he hit 333 for England against India at Lord’s in 1990, while Kumar Sangakkara was a year younger when he made 319 against Bangladesh in Chattogram in 2013-14. Both Gooch and Sangakkara added another century in the second innings for good measure.Andy Sandham was 39 when he made his triple-century against West Indies•Getty ImagesWho or what is the “Sardar of Spin”? asked Mehmet Ali from the United States

This is a nickname often bestowed on the former Indian captain Bishan Bedi, who took 266 wickets with his mesmerising left-arm spin between 1966-67 and 1979. Originally used for important Sikh leaders, “sardar” is still widely used by Sikhs to denote a respected man, in India or elsewhere. A book of tributes to Bedi was published recently to mark his 75th birthday, entitled The Sardar of Spin.Which post-war county seamer took ten wickets in an innings when he was 35, and made his Test debut for England shortly afterwards? asked Andrew Sponder from England

This late developer was the Sussex opening bowler Ian Thomson. He turned 35 early in 1964, then in May took 10 for 49 against Warwickshire in Worthing. It was a sporting pitch, and although Thomson took five more in the second innings (finishing with match figures of 15 for 75), Sussex nonetheless lost after being skittled for 23 in their second innings.England were touring South Africa that winter, and Thomson was a late addition to the touring party after Yorkshire’s Tony Nicholson (another uncapped seamer) withdrew with an injury. Thomson played all five Tests on that trip, during which he celebrated his 36th birthday. He died in 2021, aged 92: he was England’s oldest player at the time, a distinction that passed to his county colleague Jim Parks.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Roston Chase is uniquely different from West Indies' other allrounders

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A crisis man, a tidy bowler and a compact batter – Chase ticks all the boxes for WI

Shashank Kishore21-Feb-2022Roston Chase wasn’t meant to play any of the T20Is and was only picked as a back-up allrounder. He not only ended the T20I series as the highest wicket-taker across both teams, and all but sealed his spot as a bowling all-rounder, who can offer batting flexibility when the team needs it.Early wickets lost, consolidation the need of the hour? Dial Chase. Wickets needed with the ball to win back some control? Dial Chase. Besides, Chase is also an excellent fielder inside the ring. He bowled his full quota of overs in each game; his six wickets in three games came at an economy of just 5.16.Jason Holder’s bruise on his chest prior to the series opener handed him an opportunity. In a modest 157 chase, India were cruising at 57 without loss when he was brought on. He bowled his four overs at a stretch mostly with a wet ball.He used the crease to vary his lines, and then his tall frame to bowl it into the pitch and extract bounce. By not allowing batters to get underneath the flight on a two-paced surface, he kept India honest. The rewards for these were the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan. He finished the first T20I with figures of 4-0-14-2.In the second T20I, West Indies won a crucial toss and elected to bowl because of heavy dew. This time, Chase wasn’t a last-minute inclusion, but a first XI player in place of Fabian Allen, who was meant to start. Chase’s terrific effort in the series opener had swayed the team management into playing him again.This time, he had better conditions to show off his wares. India began to get off the blocks quickly, with Rohit and Virat Kohli playing in a refreshingly attacking manner. Kohli batted with freedom and positivity, hitting six boundaries off his first 15 deliveries. When Chase came on to bowl in the eighth over, Kohli had raced to 29 off 18, Rohit was on 18 off 16. The signs were ominous, and he delivered yet again.Chase’s tall frame helps him operate with different trajectories compared to Allen or Akeal Hosein, the other two spin bowling allrounders. And he used every bit of it to his advantage. Four balls into his spell, he dismissed Rohit for the second time in the series, by having him slice a lofted hit to cover.Chase can land the ball on the same spot – much like Washington Sundar does for India – and he mixes this with subtle changes in grip. The one that got Rohit held its line instead of spinning in because he bowled it with a scrambled seam. Rohit, who was looking to muscle it over cover ended up slicing it to the fielder at the edge of the ring. Off his next over, he enticed Suryakumar Yadav to drive, only to get the ball to dip and spin as he gobbled up a forceful push.Chase ensured India didn’t hit a single boundary between the end of the powerplay and the start of the 13th over. After a pulsating beginning, Kohli had managed just 10 runs off his next 15 balls during Chase’s spell, with two big wickets having fallen. Once again, his subtle mastery was at play, allowing Pollard a degree of control over proceedings. Four overs of mayhem at the end – where the fast bowlers repeatedly lost their lengths and bowled into the slot – allowed Rishabh Pant and Venkatesh Iyer to feast on the bowling to set up a target of 187, which the visitors fell short of.On Sunday, Chase was once again at the forefront for West Indies. Not allowing India’s fearless band to break away initially. They wanted to bat with freedom and made four changes with the series in the bag. In came Chase again, keeping them honest and in the process. Kishan’s frustration stemmed from his inability to step out to Chase.The lengths he bowled didn’t allow him to go back and pull either, because it was the “in-between” length Chase often goes back to as a default setting. Eventually, he’d have Kishan bowled trying to pull a delivery that held on to the surface and had him play early. Once again, he bowled out with West Indies having a degree of control, with Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav having to rebuild the innings. Allen, the man who was set to play ahead of him when the series started, bowled just one wicketless over. How the tide had turned. If not for some poor death bowling, West Indies may have found themselves chasing 20 fewer than the 185 they were set.While his bowling has come up leaps and bounds, Chase the batter struggled for any sort of rhythm. In the first game, he pottered his way around before falling lbw to a Ravi Bishnoi googly. In the third, he came in much later, after the cream of the batting had all been dismissed in pursuit of a big target. For someone who is seen as an accumulator, who can shift up and down the order based on conditions, these were disappointing series with the bat.In a line-up full of explosive power, Chase is often seen as the calm amid the storm. His presence gives West Indies a degree of comfort with the bat at the best of times. He is an excellent player of spin because of the assuredness in his footwork. His role is mainly to knock the ball around after the power plays, pick up occasional boundaries and allow the power-hitters to come into their own.This has been the DNA of his T20 game ever since he made a serious pitch as a T20 player in 2020, when he was named as a replacement player in the CPL by St Lucia Kings. In the following season, he repaid the faith by being the season’s MVP, which got him a maiden T20 World Cup call-up. While his bowling continues to be on the rise, Chase will hope his batting returns in India were an aberration. If he can offer West Indies a bit more flexibility, his presence, amid a succession of bowling allrounders in Allen, Hosein, Odean Smith, Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd will help build a bouquet of options T20 teams around the world yearn for.

IPL Auction 2022 Stats: Harshal Patel's 5275% hike, Krishnappa Gowtham's slide, and more

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Indians dominated the latest IPL auction, while Mumbai Indians spent contrasting amounts to secure their squad

Sampath Bandarupalli14-Feb-2022Indians get the big bids
The biggest earners at the IPL auction for the 2022 season turned out to be local players, something which is unusual. The three most expensive buys this weekend – Ishan Kishan, Deepak Chahar and Shreyas Iyer – were all Indians.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe only other time that happened was in 2011, when the top seven winning bids were on Indian players only. In fact, until 2021, 13 players had earned INR 10 crore or higher bids, out of which seven were overseas players. The 2022 auction had 11 players touching the 10-crore mark, but only four were foreigners.

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A hike of 5275%
Five players had seen their previous IPL salary raise by 2000% and more. Four of them belonged to Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2021. Two of them still do – Harshal Patel and Wanindu Hasaranga. Harshal was traded to them in 2021 for INR 20 lakh, but will now earn INR 10.75 crore (USD 1.4 million) – 53.75 times his previous salary.Meanwhile, Prasidh Krishna will now be 50 times richer, thanks to a INR 10 crore (USD 1.3 million) bid by Rajasthan Royals. Prasidh was with Kolkata Knight Riders earlier, having been bought for his base price of INR 20 lakh in 2018.ESPNcricinfo LtdAllrounders and bowlers strike big
One hundred and forty-six of the 204 players sold at the auction were either allrounders or bowlers. These players also went for big amounts. Only seven of the top 30 buys were either batters or wicketkeepers. Five of the 11 players to earn bids of INR 10 (USD 1.3 million) or more were bowlers. Three were allrounders. Two were hard-hitting wicketkeepers (Kishan and Nicholas Pooran). Only one was a specialist batter (Iyer).

Mumbai Indians’ contrasting buys
Mumbai bought Kishan for INR 15.25 crore (USD 2 million), by far the highest they have paid for any player. On Sunday, they got Tim David for INR 8.25 crore (USD 1.1 million) which is the highest they have ever paid for an overseas player. They also put out INR 8 crores (USD 1 million) for Jofra Archer, who is likely to miss IPL 2022. This meant the five-time winners spent INR 31.5 crore (USD 4.2 millions) to secure those three, and a little above half of that figure – INR 16.4 crore (USD 2.2 million)- for 18 other players.

Gowtham’s slump
Krishnappa Gowtham became the costliest uncapped player when he was picked for INR 9.25 crore (then USD 1.2 million) by Chennai Super Kings in 2021. Despite the high price, the allrounder did not play a single game through that title-winning season. In 2022, Lucknow Super Giants bought Gowtham, but for only 90 lakh (USD 120,000), which was just about one-tenth his previous pay.His salary decrease of 90.27% was the biggest pay cut of this auction. Tymal Mills, who will be returning to IPL after four seasons, is No. 4 on this list. He had earned a winning bid of INR 12 crore (then USD 1.7 million) from Royal Challengers in 2017, but had to settle with only INR 1.5 crore (USD 200,000) from Mumbai this time.

Auction No. 10 for Unadkat
Jaydev Unadkat was bought by Mumbai for INR 1.3 crore (USD 173,000), the tenth instance of his being sold at IPL auctions, by far the most for any player. Dinesh Karthik is in second place, along with Nathan Coulter-Nile, both being sold on seven occasions. If Unadkat does play for Mumbai, he will become one of the few players to represent six different IPL teams. Only Aaron Finch, with eight, has played for more franchises in the IPL.All current dollar values are approximations where 1 USD = 75 INR

Andrew McDonald, the quiet achiever

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Even more than his record of success, Andrew McDonald’s style of coaching stands out

Alex Malcolm14-Apr-2022It’s hard to miss Andrew McDonald. The shock of red hair stands out in the crowd atop his 6-foot 4-inch frame.But as a cricketer he was unassuming. A role player, whose unerringly accurate military mediums and technically correct middle-order batting helped Australia win three of the four Tests he played, and Victoria four Big Bash titles (prior to the BBL), a Sheffield Shield and a 50-over domestic title. He also won a T20 Blast with Leicestershire and a Sri Lankan Premier League title.His playing career spanned generations. He played with Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting but also played alongside Pat Cummins and Aaron Finch. He played in the IPL with AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle, and in the BBL alongside Shane Watson, Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell.In coaching, he has been a quiet achiever. He completed his Cricket Australia level three coaching accreditation before he made his Test debut. He started his head coaching career at Leicestershire, aged 34, well before his playing career ended with Sydney Thunder in 2016.Leicestershire had not won a county championship game in division two in two years prior to his arrival. They won twice in 2015 and four times in the 2016 championship to climb off the bottom.Related

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Success was easier to find at Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades. He won two Sheffield Shields with Victoria and completed a unique Australia domestic treble in 2018-19. He did have the benefit of taking over a domestic juggernaut in Victoria that he had played in – under his mentor Greg Shipperd – and had been continued on by David Saker. But the 2018-19 title featured some younger blood and a different philosophy to some of the hard-nosed Victorian teams of the past. His greatest achievement might have been taking a ragtag Renegades franchise that had been a basket case, and in some respects still is, to an astonishing BBL title through the use of data and analytics, tactical nous, gut feel and more than a little bit of luck.Only current Western Australia and Perth Scorchers coach Adam Voges has managed a domestic treble as a coach in Australia in the BBL era, having won all three titles this season.It was that success that saw McDonald pursued by Justin Langer in 2019 to join the Australia coaching setup as a senior assistant in charge of the bowling group.But more so than the success itself, his style of coaching is what stood out. Players from Victoria and the Renegades had been raving about the environment behind closed doors. McDonald’s even-keeled calm demeanor and mellifluous voice had the power to de-stress a team or an individual under pressure, something he outlined to ESPNCricinfo in an interview as Leicestershire coach in 2016.”As a player, the one thing I learned is, if you stay as level as you can through the ups and the downs, it holds you in better stead,” McDonald said. “As a young player, I probably didn’t get the balance right.”To arrive at such a philosophy so early in his coaching career was a credit to his mentor Shipperd, an Australian coaching doyen and current Sydney Sixers coach.McDonald explained to ESPNCricinfo’s Stump Mic podcast in February 2019, after claiming the BBL title, a tip Shipperd had given him to help shape his coaching style.”One of the exercises my mentor got me to do when I first embarked on the coaching journey was to write down what you liked from coaches and what you didn’t,” McDonald said. “Really just write a profile on each coach that you had throughout your career. By the end of it, you have a lot of coaches.”You try to take those good parts. You try and understand what he was trying to achieve there. Was it a bad part or was it just bad because I wasn’t picked at the time or I wasn’t in the team?”You definitely are shaped by your environment and you get shaped every day. You’ve got a different challenge on your hands with every playing group. I had different challenges at Leicester that’s probably shaped what I am here today at Victoria. I think until you actually get into coaching, you have no idea what coaches do. That’s the one thing I’ve learned.”McDonald has been a head coach all around the world•BCCIBespoke management of players is another feature of his coaching style. With Victoria and Australia, he has shied away from group meetings and groupthink, instead preferring to work one on one with individuals depending on their specific needs.”I really encourage our players to be themselves and not try to be other people,” McDonald said back in 2019. “The ability of a coach is to draw that out of the individual. The way they move, their mechanics, everyone has got different DNA in terms of their athletic ability. So everyone is going to do it differently.”We’ve seen that with bowling actions. We’ve seen that with batters. Really as a coach at our level, we’re not in that development space. We get the finished product to some degree. Yes, we’ve got some younger players coming through but essentially the way that they move is probably who they are.”I remember being an 18-year-old batter and I didn’t look too much different when I was 28 to when I was 18. I think what had improved was my decision-making and the ability to read the game in the situations. So we really encourage our players to be themselves and be accountable for the way that they want to play. We’ll help them along the way. Look, if it’s fatal then obviously you’ve got to step in. You’re not going to watch someone fail in front of your eyes continually. But with the great players, it’s almost they’ve got a sense of, I’ll do it my way and be accountable to that.”That’s what has led him to become Australia’s 8th full-time coach. His challenge won’t be internal. The players absolutely love him and note that he never seems to get flustered. He will work diligently in the background. He will be the calm influence they want. He will coach them in a modern way and with modern game plans.McDonald’s challenge will be external. Perception and reality are two different things, but in Australian cricket, they can often become one in the public sphere.The perception right now is that McDonald is the players’ appointment. Langer was and still is a much-loved figure publicly whose playing and coaching record looks nearly immaculate on paper. The circumstances around his exit as head coach still make no sense to some of the team’s supporters looking in from the outside.The reality of the T20 World Cup and home Ashes win under Langer didn’t marry with the innuendo about his coaching style. The only thing on the record is that he was intense and moody, something both he and Cummins have acknowledged in the aftermath of his departure.The perception is that this transition has been orchestrated and McDonald’s appointment does not sit comfortably with a portion of Australian ex-players and supporters.The reality is McDonald’s coaching credentials are the equal of any and the performance of the Test team in Pakistan suggests he is the right fit for this Australia team right now. No Australian coach has ever had as much T20 experience as both a player and a coach. He is the only man to have coached teams in England, the IPL and Australia prior to gaining Australia’s top job. McDonald’s IPL experience with Rajasthan Royals in 2020 was far from smooth. They finished last on the table, albeit just one win and net run rate out of the playoffs, and he was replaced in 2021. But he remained a wanted man right up until his appointment to the Australia role, having to resign as Birmingham Phoenix coach in the Hundred and turn down offers to work again in the IPL as an assistant this year.However, as it was with Rajasthan and as it is now, the perception is results are the only currency in coaching. The reality might be, as McDonald put it, “until you actually get into coaching, you have no idea what coaches do.”But the fans won’t care if the players are happy and comfortable in a calm and bespoke coaching environment. The fans will want and expect results better than those seen under Langer to justify what has taken place.Australia will need to win and win often. And they will need to do so with humility and class, as they showed in Pakistan.They will need to be quiet achievers, in the mold of their new coach.

Nick Gubbins back on track after underlining credentials with twin tons

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The move to Hampshire has revitalised Gubbins’ career after he rode the highs and lows at Middlesex

Matt Roller02-May-2022During England’s Test series against India last summer, Rob Key wrote a scathing column for the about the standard of the County Championship. “For too long, Championship cricket has rewarded the trundler, and the wrong type of cricket… it does not resemble Test cricket in the slightest,” he wrote.”There is collateral. For every Tim Murtagh there are five Nick Gubbins, and for every Darren Stevens there are five Daniel Bell-Drummonds. These are young guys, full of promise, fighting back tears as they trudge back to the dressing room with a sore shin, wondering if a career as a first-class batter is actually feasible.”For Gubbins, this amounted to being damned with faint praise. Key, then a pundit rather than the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket, had marked him out as a batter of high potential, but one who has struggled to live up to his potential due to pitches that suited medium-pacers rather than fast bowlers and spinners.It was hard to argue with his point. As a 22-year-old, Gubbins narrowly missed out on an England call-up after he piled on 1409 runs at 61.26 in Middlesex’s title-winning 2016 season, as they drew 10 of their 16 games and played on flat pitches; across the next five years, he averaged 29.50 in first-class cricket and looked further than ever from international selection as Middlesex lingered in Division Two.Related

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“I did read that,” Gubbins tells ESPNcricinfo. “Murts said something like: ‘I wouldn’t want to live in a world where there are five Nick Gubbins.’ Well, one Tim Murtagh is enough for me – but he’s a good mate of mine and a legend in his own right.”He [Key] was obviously making the point that it’s been quite tricky to bat in the Championship over the last few years, and now he’s in the position to control and change things. So far, it looks like pitches across the country have been pretty good throughout what was a pretty good April, weather-wise. It’s a really exciting time for the county game.”It is an exciting time for Gubbins, too. Last week, he hit twin hundreds for the first time in his career, making 101 not out and 130 in Hampshire’s rain-ruined draw against Lancashire. Batting at No. 3 he twice dug them out of a hole, from 40 for 5 to 246 all out in the first innings and 12 for 2 to 344 all out in the second, all against an attack containing James Anderson, Hasan Ali and Tom Bailey.”Yeah, it was really nice because it happened when the team needed it,” he says. “We just needed to get some partnerships going, which is something we speak a lot about as a team. Luckily, Felix Organ came out and played really nicely and then on day three, it was Ben Brown who played beautifully.”They have a high-class attack with quality bowlers so it’s really nice to test yourself against the best. Jimmy will go down as the greatest-ever seam bowler. He’s relentless and moves the ball both ways, and then they had different challenges too with Hasan and Tom Bailey. It was a challenging week, but a very satisfying one as well.”

Rain intervened on the final day to deny Hampshire the opportunity to push for a victory which would have taken them top of Division One. “We felt like we’d got ourselves into a position where we could win the game and definitely take 10 wickets on that last day and put Lancashire under some pressure,” Gubbins says. “It was really pleasing up until that point but yesterday was very frustrating.” They are second in the table regardless, and Gubbins is the fifth-highest run-scorer in the division.The opportunity to play his home games at the Ageas Bowl rather than Lord’s – where pitches have been green and games low-scoring ever since Middlesex’s title-winning season in 2016 – was a significant factor in Gubbins’ decision to join Hampshire midway through last year.”Lord’s has been notoriously tough over the last few years for whatever reason,” he explains. “It came to a point where I was trying to think about the future of my cricket and the Ageas Bowl and the atmosphere at Hampshire was a massive draw. The decision to leave Middlesex was the hardest decision of my life but Hampshire seemed like the right place to go and it was just the right time to make a move, I think.”I’m fortunate to be massively supported by my fiancée Charlotte. She was incredibly supportive and helped me make that decision.” They have moved to East Meon, a village near Petersfield, and are renovating an old cottage. “Charlotte runs her own design company. She tells me where to put the nails and I’m a bit of a labourer.”Nick Gubbins drives through the off side•Getty ImagesGubbins spent some of the winter away in Zimbabwe where he played two first-class games for Matabeleland Tuskers through his connections with Dave Houghton, his former Middlesex batting coach. He has also continued to work remotely with Neil D’Costa, the coach who is best known as Marnus Labuschagne’s mentor.Capped 27 times by England Lions across formats, Gubbins retains ambitions of playing Test cricket but is keen to underline that his immediate focus is on Hampshire – and in particular on helping them win a first Championship since 1973. “I’m one of 300 cricketers in the country who I would imagine all harbour those ambitions and hopes and dreams,” he says. “I’m certainly not going to get ahead of myself now just because of one game.”Cricket is a great leveller in both directions: there have been some good times, there have been some bad times. It’s just about learning to deal with those, not get too high or too low, and enjoy life down here. I’m getting married at the end of the year so whatever happens, it’s going to be an amazing year in my life. I’m really happy to be down here and for us to be starting our lives in a beautiful part of the world.”Obviously Hampshire have challenged for white-ball trophies throughout the last two decades and we’ll be looking do that again, but we’re in a really strong position to compete for the Championship again. You look around the changing room and there’s high quality everywhere; you only have to look as far as James Vince, who is probably one of the best batsmen in the country.”You look at our seamers – Mo Abbas, Kyle Abbott and Keith Barker – and I don’t think there’s an attack in the country that rivals ours, and when it gets drier, Daws [Liam Dawson], Mason Crane and Felix Organ will come into it more and more. We’ve got a lot of bases covered. A Championship push is definitely on everyone’s mind.”

India have the IPL to thank for their formidable international depth

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

The country has for long had the potential; with the IPL, it has been translated into performance

Ian Chappell07-May-2022Apart from the massive financial boost and enormous increase in fan interest, India’s biggest gain from a highly productive IPL competition has been the huge improvement in playing depth.About 20 years ago, India’s overseas reputation was an improving one, especially under the captaincy reign of a competitive Sourav Ganguly but the pace of that ascent gradually increased when the IPL began 15 seasons back, in 2008. The quietly thoughtful MS Dhoni – who is still exerting an influence – built on Ganguly’s reputation, which was then improved upon by the highly competitive leadership of Virat Kohli.The firmly established IPL is now seen as the most important part of India’s enviable depth in international cricket.Related

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To thoughtful players, as far back as the 1970s, Indian cricket had the potential to be a major power. It was felt even then that if India ever capitalised on its enormous population advantage and decided to select its best teams, eventually size would prevail. That notion crystallised when the IPL gathered worldwide popularity. India’s overseas results initially were creditable, and then – especially in Australia – by the 2020s, they were the most feared team in the Test competition. Not only did India under Kohli, ably assisted by Ajinkya Rahane, win internationally, but in 2021 they also achieved an incredible series victory over Australia that confirmed their player depth. This was an Indian team not only ably led but also displaying ample resolve and being competitively better than the previously almost impregnable Australia in home conditions.India have always had individual stars. In the past there were outstanding batters like Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar and Mohammad Azharuddin. The allrounders were headed by the extremely athletic and successful Kapil Dev, and earlier, Vinoo Mankad, who too held a special place among his peers.Spinners there were plenty but the big three – Erapalli Prasanna, Bishan Bedi and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar – headed the list of past greats.However, India, who had produced the odd faster bowler, lacked a pace conglomerate. Then the IPL began to bare its teeth, and now we have the current generation of fast bowlers to round out a versatile attack, which accompanies a strong batting line-up and a decent catching combination.Nowadays India’s enormous depth in pace bowling is the envy of most countries. The development of star quick bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj has been instrumental in India’s improved overseas reputation. There is also a depth below that group, in the successful Ishant Sharma, the underrated Umesh Yadav, and handy back-up in Shardul Thakur.India have evolved from a team that had a reputation where some players treasured the blazer, sweater and cap more than actual selection in the Test side, to one that was extremely difficult to beat under any conditions.In addition to the enormous increase in pace-bowling power, the improved fielding culture – boosted by the international flavour of the IPL – has helped advance India’s reputation. Years ago in a documentary on Indian Test cricket, former captain “Tiger” Pataudi spoke of how “the batsmen used to go into the slips and drop all the catches”. This comment elicited a guffaw from the audience but it was a valid point the influential Pataudi, who was a brilliant cover fielder himself, was making.India’s pace-bowling revolution shows no sign of abating, and the name on IPL watchers’ lips is currently that of the pacy Umran Malik. In the past India has displayed patience in developing its fast-bowling group but the genuine pace of Malik will be hard to ignore.In a world where fast bowling is a valuable commodity, India are now a shining light. However, as England have displayed recently, thoughtful captaincy isn’t easy to uncover, but India seem to be doing a good job in this regard too, thanks again to the extremely competitive IPL.India are currently a dominant international side and if they continue to show the required resolve, will continue to be a leading team. That is an envious position and India can thank the highly successful IPL for much of their lofty reputation.

Luke Wright captains ESPNcricinfo's all-time T20 Blast XI

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Our expert panel make their picks ahead of the 20th season of English domestic T20

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-20221. Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire)

Hales has been among the Blast’s most destructive batters for more than a decade, earning his first England call-up on the back of his T20 form for Notts in 2011. He is the club’s all-time leading run-scorer in the format and is the only man in the top 50 run-scorers in the Blast’s history with a strike rate above 150 in the tournament.Luke Wright is the Blast’s all-time leading run-scorer•Getty Images2. Luke Wright (Sussex, captain)

The Blast’s all-time leading run-scorer and the captain of this side, Wright joined Sussex in 2004 and has been a mainstay of their T20 set-up ever since, captaining them from 2015 to 2021. He was part of their title-winning 2009 team but has got better with age and has become increasingly reliable as an opener since giving up bowling.3. Moeen Ali (Worcestershire)

A prolific allrounder throughout his domestic T20 career, ruthlessly taking down county spinners and reliably chipping in with the bat. Moeen became Worcestershire’s captain in 2018 and immediately led them to their first-ever title; the following season, he hit one of the Blast’s great hundreds in the quarter-finals against Sussex.Moeen Ali captained Worcestershire to the 2018 title•Getty Images4. Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire)

The Blast’s ubiquitous presence: six men in the tournament’s history have more runs, only one has more wickets and nobody has played as many games. It seemed a far cry when his first over in the competition went for 28 back in 2003 but Patel has become a domestic T20 legend, winning two titles on top of his remarkable individual success.5. Jos Buttler (Somerset/Lancashire, wicketkeeper)

It has become rare for Buttler to play more than a handful of Blast games in a season due to his England and IPL commitments but he was one of the competition’s stars as a young player. His 55 not out off 23 balls in Somerset’s 2010 semi-final was his first major televised innings and he continued to thrive after moving to Lancashire, playing a walk-on role in their 2015 title. Now one of the world’s best T20 openers but No. 5 in this team, having spent the overwhelming majority of his domestic career in the middle order.Buttler announced himself as a T20 cricketer at Somerset•Getty Images6. Ravi Bopara (Essex/Sussex)

Like Patel, Bopara has been an ever-present in the Blast, making his debut as a non-bowling No. 9 as a teenager in 2003; it was an inauspicious start but he has thrived in a number of different roles at both Essex and Sussex. He has batted everywhere from No. 1-10 but is a finisher in this side – the role in which he thrived for Essex when taking them to their only T20 title in 2019.7. Dan Christian (Hampshire/Gloucestershire/Middlesex/Notts)

One of four men to win three Blast finals, including two as captain. Christian’s first experience of the Blast was as a jobbing allrounder for Hampshire in 2010, a stint remembered for the chaos induced by his hamstring injury in a dramatic ending to the final. He returned with Gloucestershire and Middlesex – where he once hit 129 in a losing cause – but has flourished at Notts, leading them to two titles and living up to his mantra that “old blokes win stuff”.ESPNcricinfo’s all-time T20 Blast XI•ESPNcricinfo Ltd8. Benny Howell (Hampshire/Gloucestershire)

Howell is Gloucestershire’s magical mystery man. Described by his ESPNcricinfo profile as a right-arm medium-pacer, he identifies himself as a ‘fast spinner’ who bowls quick cutters and knuckleballs – and few on the county circuit have found a reliable way to counter him. He is the only player in this team without a Blast winners’ medal, his only T20 appearances for Hampshire coming in the year between their two titles.Azhar Mahmood’s clinches a Surrey win•PA Photos9. Azhar Mahmood (Surrey/Kent)

Mahmood was part of the Surrey side that won the inaugural Twenty20 Cup back in 2003, finishing the season as the second-highest wicket-taker in the country, and was still an effective bowler by the time he played his final Blast game in 2016 at the age of 41. He was also prolific playing for Kent and spent half of his county career as a local player by virtue of his British citizenship.10. Danny Briggs (Hampshire/Sussex/Warwickshire)

Briggs’ emergence as a fresh-faced left-arm spinner coincided with – and contributed to – Hampshire’s T20 glory years: they won the title in his first and third seasons, in 2010 and 2012. His performances earned him a brief England call-up and he has continued to impress while flying under the radar since moving counties, first to Sussex, then to Warwickshire. He retains top spot in the all-time wicket-taking list.Danny Briggs is the Blast’s all-time leading wicket-taker•Getty Images11. Harry Gurney (Leicestershire/Nottinghamshire)

Gurney was Leicestershire’s leading wicket-taker when they won their record third title in 2011 – though missed Finals Day with a side strain – and developed into one of the country’s leading death bowlers at Notts, mixing up his pace and angle of attack and nailing his yorkers. He was key to their 2017 title, closing out the final with 4 for 17 to earn himself a second career on the franchise circuit.Other players who received votes:4 votes: Graham Napier, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, James Vince, David Willey
3 votes: Yasir Arafat, Michael Klinger
2 votes: Andrew Flintoff, James Foster, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Tymal Mills, Phil Mustard, Jeetan Patel, Imran Tahir, Marcus Trescothick
1 vote: Shahid Afridi, Mushtaq Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Pat Brown, Rikki Clarke, Ian Cockbain, Steven Croft, Steven Davies, Ian Harvey, Adam Hollioake, Colin Ingram, Rashid Khan, Adam Lyth, Darren Maddy, Brendon McCullum, Paul Nixon, Kieron Pollard, Jimmy Ormond, Owais Shah, Jeremy Snape, Darren Stevens, Andrew Symonds, Max Waller, Chris Wood

A man of many hats, new BCCI president Roger Binny braces for new innings

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

“He’s no-nonsense without being confrontational. If he sees incompetency around him, he will quietly call it out”

Shashank Kishore19-Oct-2022The new set of BCCI office-bearers was finalised over a week ago. Yet, when Roger Binny was officially announced as the BCCI’s 36th president at the Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday, there was an unmistakable buzz at the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) in Bengaluru where he had been president for the past three years.Among those celebrating the rise of one of their own to the highest office in the BCCI was Sanjay Desai, Binny’s close friend and a veteran KSCA administrator himself. Desai and Binny were once Karnataka team-mates who starred in an unbroken 451-run opening stand in the Ranji Trophy against Kerala in 1977-78. Desai has had a ringside view of the several roles Binny has donned – as player, coach, selector and administrator.”He [Binny] will follow the rule book to a tee,” Desai says. “He doesn’t like the limelight, but that shouldn’t be mistaken for him being silent. He will do his job quietly, without much fuss. He’s no-nonsense in a way, without being confrontational. If he sees incompetency around him, he will quietly call it out. As a person, his stature has never been a stumbling block when it comes to establishing two-way communication with the players, stakeholders or his own colleagues.”Related

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After his retirement as a cricketer, Binny, a 1983 World Cup winner, first forayed into coaching when he was in charge of the India Under-19s. In 2000, he coached the Mohammad Kaif-led team to the Under-19 World Cup win in Sri Lanka. Two years later, he went into the grassroots to coach the Under-16s and played a key role in the emergence of young players such as Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa and Irfan Pathan.After his first coaching stint, Binny helped established pathways for cricket in South-East Asia and the Middle East as a cricket development officer of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).”When I joined the ACC in 2007, Roger was already many years my senior, but not for once did he make it seem that he was a senior and my views didn’t matter,” says former Bangladesh captain Aminul Islam, who currently heads the ICC’s pathway programs in Asia. “It was never ‘I am Roger Binny, I’m a World Cup winner, I know what to do’. He would always hear people out. He would gladly accept counterviews. It was never ‘my way or the highway’.”His challenge was to set up administrative pathways and coaching pathways from scratch. For someone to build this across several countries, there are lots of bureaucratic hurdles to pass. You need to have immense patience. Roger’s handling of all of this was exemplary. He was an example for us to follow.”

“He doesn’t like the limelight, but that shouldn’t be mistaken for him being silent. He will do his job quietly, without much fuss. He’s no-nonsense in a way, without being confrontational. If he sees incompetency around him, he will quietly call it out”Sanjay Desai

Reetinder Sodhi, the vice-captain of India’s U-19 World Cup-winning team in 2000 and currently a BCCI match referee, points to Binny’s empowering the players to make decisions and be accountable for them made them better cricketers when they graduated to the senior levels.”He was a chilled-out coach, you would never see him angry or flustered,” Sodhi says. “In situations where one could lose their mind, he would resonate calmness. Unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn’t interfere with on-field decisions. For us at the U-19 level, that was massive because until then, we were always under the coach’s eyes and ears. Roger wasn’t the one to spoon-feed you as kids, he treated us like mature individuals for whom he was always around whenever required.”Others point to Binny being polite, yet assertive. “If Roger said no, no one would really go back and ask him to reconsider, because he isn’t an impulsive person. If he says no to something, you know he would’ve spent considerable time thinking about it before arriving at a decision,” says a KSCA administrator.Sodhi too cites an instance from that U-19 World Cup campaign to highlight this. “Before our group game against Sri Lanka, I was very unwell. I turned up sick on the morning of the match and didn’t know how to inform Roger that I won’t be in a position to take the field. I hadn’t slept the whole night and woke up with a high temperature.”I walked down the stairs to the ground and told him that I was feeling weak. Roger smiled, took one hard look at me and in the gentlest manner and said, ‘Sodhi, you’re playing. Please take rest now and be ready five minutes before the game.’ I made 74 and got two wickets and was named Player of the Match. If he hadn’t fired me up to play, I may have been on the sickbed probably for even two or three days after the match.”Binny’s expert handling of disputes as an administrator is perhaps another underrated facet to his man-management skills. In 2010, he was named vice president under Anil Kumble’s administration at the KSCA at a time when two different factions were at loggerheads, resulting in an acrimonious election.Roger Binny with Yashpal Sharma, Sunil Gavaskar and Syed Kirmani at a reunion of India’s 1983 World Cup-winning squad at Lord’s in 2018•Associated PressIn the aftermath, Binny is believed to have been among the key mediators in ensuring things didn’t take an ugly turn. Later, Binny would also find support from the rival Brijesh Patel camp. Incidentally, Patel has held a stranglehold over KSCA for a long time, and his backing was one of the catalysts in Binny’s elevation to the top job in the BCCI.Outside of administration, Binny was also a national selector between 2012 and 2016. In 2014, he had a conflict-of-interest cloud hovering over him when his son Stuart Binny was spoken of as a potential all-round option for the national team. Selectors at the time credit Binny for not making things awkward as he would recuse himself whenever Stuart’s name was up for selection.Binny’s most recent administrative tenure was at the KSCA, where among his first tasks was to restore credibility to the state’s T20 League, Karnataka Premier League, following arrests of certain players and team owners for match-fixing in 2019. Binny swiftly disbanded the tournament and overhauled the structure. He ensured his administration took over complete control of ownership of teams and player payments. Among cricketing decisions, Binny has increasingly advocated for different teams across different formats for Karnataka, something the selectors appeared to have aligned towards when they picked the squad for the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.Off the field, Binny is a doting grandfather who loves spending family time at his farm in Bandipur, away from the chaos and traffic of Bengaluru. He is passionate about golf and wildlife conservation. Last week, soon after returning to Bengaluru after filling his nomination for the BCCI presidency, he made a dash to his farm to ensure everything was in order for his pets and rescue dogs.In accepting the top job that could potentially see him away from his farm for a lot longer than he is accustomed to, Binny has signalled the start of the next phase in his administrative career.

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