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A stats review at the end of the fifth ODI between England and India at Headingley

Bishen Jeswant05-Sep-20145 England had lost five consecutive ODIs heading into Leeds. Since 1994, England have had six losing sequences of six or more in ODIs, the longest of those being the 11 straight games that they lost in 2001. The last time this happened was in 2009, when England lost six consecutive ODIs to Australia.63 ODIs in which Alastair Cook has captained England, an English record. The previous record of 62 ODIs as captain was held by Andrew Strauss.2 ODI centuries scored by Joe Root, the most by an English batsman by the age of 23. David Gower and Eoin Morgan also scored as many tons. The record for the most centuries by the age of 23 is held by Virat Kohli, who had 13 tons, followed by Sachin Tendulkar, who had 11.0 Batsmen who scored at least 200 runs in this series, the first time it has happened in a bilateral series of four or more matches between India and England. At least one batsman had collected 200 runs in the previous nine bilateral series between the two teams.11 Hundreds scored by English batsmen while batting at No. 4 in ODIs, the fewest for a top-eight team. South Africa are second from bottom in this list – their No.4 batsmen have collectively made 20 hundreds. India and Pakistan lead the way with 29 hundreds.87 Runs scored by Ravindra Jadeja today, the second highest ODI score in England by a player at No. 7 or below. Mohammad Kaif scored 87 as well while batting at No. 7, during the NatWest series final at Lord’s in 2002. Jos Buttler’s 121 in a losing cause against Sri Lanka earlier this summer is the highest ODI score by a player batting in these one of these positions in England.7 James Anderson has dismissed Virat Kohli seven times in international cricket in the last two years. The only batsmen who have been dismissed more often by a bowler in this period are Mohammad Hafeez and Misbah-ul-Haq. Dale Steyn dismissed Hafeez ten times, while Rangana Herath removed Misbah on eight occasions.3 Wicketkeepers run out on 49 in ODIs. The list includes two England players, Geraint Jones, who currently plays for Papua New Guinea, and now Buttler. Andy Flower was also run out on 49, against Pakistan at Sharjah in 1993.55 Runs scored by England in the batting Powerplay, their highest score since 2011. The best Powerplay score of this series was by India – 62 in the second ODI in Cardiff.

Stats highlights from the fourth day of the first Test between Pakistan and New Zealand, in Abu Dhabi

Bishen Jeswant12-Nov-201415 Number of years since a Pakistan opener made 90-plus scores in both innings of a Test. Pakistan have had five such instances in all. Mohammad Hafeez scored 96 in the first innings and 101 in the second. The last man to do it before this was Wajahatullah Wasti, who had scored twin hundreds against Sri Lanka in Lahore in 1999.5 Number of back-to-back Test innings where Pakistan have declared, their longest such streak. The longest sequence is six consecutive declarations, by England in 2009. Pakistan declared both innings of this Test, and the last three innings of the preceding Test series against Australia.69 The opening standing between Hafeez and Azhar Ali, Pakistan’s fifth 50-plus opening stand in 2014. The only team with more such stands is West Indies, with six.188 The most overs that New Zealand have batted in the fourth innings of a Test match. They need to play out 144 overs to save this Test, unless, of course, they pull off a win before that.15 Number of innings between New Zealand’s last 50-plus opening stand and the 57-run opening partnership during New Zealand’s second innings. This was new Zealand’s first 50-plus opening stand in 2014.175 The score at which Pakistan declared their second innings. This is the sixth lowest score at which Pakistan have declared a Test innings, and their lowest against New Zealand.43.3 BJ Watling’s batting average in Tests. This the fifth highest for a wicketkeeper who has played at least ten or more Test matches, with those higher than him on the list being Andy Flower, Adam Gilchrist, Les Ames and AB de Villiers. Watling scored 42 in New Zealand’s first innings, but a duck in the second.1 Number of previous instances in the last 22 years of New Zealand’s Nos. 6 & 7 making ducks. Watling and James Neesham made ducks during New Zealand’s second innings.

Twelve years on from masterminding the introduction of professional Twenty20 that revolutionised cricket, Stuart Robertson says that full grounds are essential in any successful format

Interview by Freddie Wilde13-Jan-2015Ten years on from leaving the ECB, are you happy with the direction in which English T20 has gone?I’m happier now but I wasn’t happy for a while. I think the game got greedy. So we had a format. I think I am right in saying the first season of the competition lasted 11 days. It was a real short, sharp festival in the middle of the summer, which grouped all the best players together and all of that. Now the smaller grounds, who had huge gate receipts, thought ‘We want more of this’ and they could almost fill the ground all the time with 3000, 4000 seats. But the bigger grounds, even a really good cricket ground – a crowd of 15,000 at Lord’s, the ground is half empty. And as we got greedier and the game got greedier, we were asking the same customer to come two or three times in a wage packet … and it’s too many.Tomorrow in our T20 debate

George Dobell: How to make things work

Mark Butcher: Change or die

Jarrod Kimber: A night at the Big Bash

I think what we’ve seen is over the years, every year bar one, the total number of people watching T20 cricket has increased but the average attendance has been falling for a while because there’s been more and more of it. So yes, you’ve got more people coming, but the average attendance has been going down. And one of the beauties of sport and what makes people go to sport as a social occasion is feeling and looking popular and then it creates its own atmosphere and it becomes self-perpetuating. The minute you start losing the atmosphere at a live sporting event people become more fickle and they look for something else to perhaps spend their leisure pound on. So I wasn’t happy for a while, the game got greedy, they overegged it, they were playing too much of it and it was losing some of that fizz.I think there were two alternatives. One was to drastically cut the number of matches and concentrate it into a small period. Or, if they were going to play as much as they’ve been playing, then spread it out over the season and that’s what we’re now doing. So the last couple of seasons we have developed this schedule which is predominantly Friday nights and it is spread out a bit further and I think that’s a decent compromise and I’m really looking forward to seeing how that beds in. I think we can do something quite exciting with that.Ten English inventions that saved cricket

1701: Seed drill (Jethro Tull): Tull, an Oxfordshire farmer, invented a seed drill pulled by a horse and the best cricket outfields began to benefit.
1823: Waterproofs (Charles Macintosh): Macintosh, an amateur chemist, invented the material that has been the salvation of cricket crowds; particularly invaluable in the English climate
1827: Lawnmower (Edwin Beard Budding): What could be more English than a neatly-striped cricket outfield. Buddings invention meant lawns were no longer the preserve of the rich and cricket misfields became less common.
1837: Electric Telegraph (Charles Wheatstone/William Cooke): Cricket reports were still being filed to England via telegraph from India in the 1970s.
1863: Steamroller (William Clark): France might say they have a prior claim, but William Clark’s design was the first to be sold commercially after tests in Hyde Park. Improved pitches, although not always as much as might hope.
1880s: Cricket bat (Charles Richardson): The current design of a cane handle spliced into a willow blade through a tapered splice was invented by Richardson, a pupil of Brunel and chief engineer of the Severn railway tunnel.
1892: Thermos Flask (Sir James Drewer): Dewer, a professor of chemistry at Cambridge University, invented it for his experiments on cooling gases. Little did he know it would sustain county cricket watchers through rain and shine.
1925: Television (John Logie Baird): Baird shares this claim with several, but he was the first to transmit moving pictures, only for rival versions to prove superior, no doubt imaging the Rights Deals for cricket that would one day ensue.
1989: Worldwide web (Tim Berners Lee): Where would you be without Cricinfo?
2003: Professional Twenty20 (Stuart Robertson): It had been around in amateur leagues for years but Robertson’s ambitions were the start of a revolution.

And the idea of franchises? Basically cutting the number of teams in half – is that something that ever appealed to you?It absolutely did and there are lots of merits to doing that. If we did it properly, if we fully invested in it, if we had the best players in the world coming over to play, a la IPL and Big Bash, yeah I think that would be fantastic. I think the game could grow generally and there would be more cash to share out amongst everybody. Politically, though, with the way the game in the UK is set up, I can’t see it happening … there would be too many eggs broken. It’s 18 firsts-class counties and a franchise system would pretty much take out half of them and for all the sensible side of doing it I think the heart side of it, the emotional side of it and the political side of it would make it difficult.Initially T20 was seen as something to “save” county cricket but now tournaments in India and Australia generate their boards huge amounts of money, without the international market and reliance on the subcontinent. The purpose of T20 is shifting and perhaps the ECB should be considering a standalone TV deal for the domestic competition?Yes, I think there is now sufficient value in the format to think about it as a separate element. Whether it is a TV deal, which is the biggest part of where the money is, or the centralised sponsorships that the ECB do, the advertising packages – because there is a big audience and it appeals to a big demographic. One thing that I am still frustrated a bit with is that we as a game are yet to really attract a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sponsor into that space. There is KFC in Australia, Pepsi in India – we’ve got banks and services still. No disrespect to NatWest, they’ve put in huge amounts of money into the game over the years, they’re a good supporter of the game, as are most financial services and businesses that have been involved. But you’re thinking this should be on the breakfast table, on the supermarket shelf, as a partner to drive attendances and increase the popularity of this whole thing. A franchise system might be a better way … but are we maximising the commercial opportunities that T20 has given us? I don’t think we are.The original survey was targeted it at the demographics that weren’t interested in cricket. But a couple of years ago the ECB did another survey, which has produced the current format, and it was generally put to existing cricket fans. In 2002, you were looking for new demographics and it feels like they are running away from that idea. Is it not the point of T20 to attract new fans to the sport?Stuart Robertson was the driving force behind the creation of the Twenty20 Cup•Getty ImagesOf course it is. The ECB do laud that last piece of research as the biggest piece of customer research that the game has ever done – it usurped the one we did for T20. But you’re absolutely right, it was predominantly about people who were already involved in the game and they were asking some pretty technical questions in there as well, about start days of Championship cricket, all sorts of really thorough questions.What should drive the schedule? What is the most popular form of the game? If it is T20, after internationals, that should drive the schedule and fixtures. Which it is doing in part now – if you speak to Alan Fordham, head of first-class cricket operations at the ECB, the internationals go in the first part of the schedule and the next thing that goes in are the T20s. We need to think about what does the consumer want? What does the cricketer want? And we have to think of them because we have to make sure the playing programme means the quality of the on-field entertainment is as high as it can be. We don’t want to be burning players out but sometimes things were being scheduled because it was difficult for players, when actually, the players are the entertainers and it should be positioned to meet the expectations and requirements of the customer. They should come first in all that we think about.In the eyes of serial pessimists, 20 years down the line international cricket has receded away, the Ashes are played as a relic and T20 dominates, with players hopping from league to league. How do you see the future unfolding?I think there’s a danger of that. But what I usually say to that question is that market forces will determine it. We are a business at the end of the day, we have income and we have expenditure and we rely on people spending their money on cricket, whether that’s people subscribing to TV or paying for tickets, ultimately the customer will decided.I don’t want to see Test cricket disappear, I think it is a fantastic format of the game but I think it needs a bit more context. The contextual element of it seems to be missing. It becomes a bit of a treadmill. I really liked the idea of the World Test Championship and I was sad to see that dropped because I thought that would’ve helped give each series and each match context, if every game was working towards something where the top two teams play off for the World Championship of Test cricket, then fantastic. The flip side of that is, if the game is going to grow globally, is Test cricket the format by which the game will grow in Affiliate and Associate nations? No it is not. T20 is the format that will happen in, so you talk to Afghanistan and around the world … these smaller nations, these emerging nations, a format like T20 is perfect for them to cut their teeth in international cricket. So to protect the game and grow the game globally, I think that T20 should and will continue to dominate in that emerging context.I would love to see Test cricket always as the pinnacle of the game but I think it needs context to do that. But if Test cricket withered and died without T20 beneath it, and the game withered and died then that is disaster and carnage. But if Test cricket withered and died but another format stepped in behind it and kept the game flourishing, with 22 people involved, with a bat and a ball and some stumps – well, it might look a bit different and feel a bit different but if it keeps the game going for another 100, 150 years, then what’s wrong with that?

Sri Lanka may not be the better team, but they somehow just get the job done during World Cup knockouts. The same can’t be said of their quarter-final opponents, who are, as of 2015, yet to win a single such game

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Sydney16-Mar-2015Mahela Jayawardene has the stalling semi-final knock that became a Kingston mauling in 2007. Kumar Sangakkara has the nifty World T20 final fifty. Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara have their many tandem successes; trying batsmen with the new ball, tying them down with the old. Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Rangana Herath, Thisara Perera – they’ve all had star turns on big occasions. All can recall shots or balls or catches when nerves were held, opponents cornered, and matches turned.”It’s like a bank account,” Jayawardene said of the moments that have clinched Sri Lanka knockout games. “All those good performances, you’ve deposited. As a group, and as individuals we can always reflect back and know that there’s some things that you’ve achieved already. We think: ‘This is what I’ve done in those situations, mentally and physically.'”The knockouts is when Sri Lanka’s cricket has taken taut, menacing shape in the past two World Cups, in which they have played more sudden-death matches than any other side. In between, there have been two gallops to World T20 finals. So the belief at training is palpable. Some players have been away from home since mid-December, but they are not pining for Sri Lanka just yet. “We’ve got two more weeks here,” they say, “We’re just focused on that.”All through this World Cup, Sri Lanka have eschewed talk of dominating the competition and instead focused on “peaking”. Now that they are at the pointy end, they will reflect on the times they have collectively risen before.They might recall flying to the Caribbean unfancied in 2007, before losing to South Africa and only scraping past against England. They would scorch past New Zealand to that final. Adam Gilchrist and a great Australia team would have to summon something special to shoot them down.Sri Lanka may remember losing to Pakistan at home, in 2011, before heating up for a clobbering of England. So complete was their control over that chase of 230, Dilshan accidentally hit a four in the closing stages and apologised to his partner, who was running down a hundred. They would blow by New Zealand en route to the Wankhede again. Speckled through each recent marquee tournament are wins grasped from thin air, roaring fires summoned from embers from campaigns gone by.South Africa, their opponents, are a study in contrast. They have all the form, but little of the nerves or the know-how. It has been said that big-match pressure puts South African minds in a muddle, but so many tournaments has it been without a single knockout victory now, even the muddles have become tangled in a heap on their own. Their grand inconsistency has been dealt with inconsistently. Graeme Smith used to bristle when the word “chokers” was put to him in a question. AB de Villiers has confronted the tag head on, even sometimes applying the term when his team had simply been outplayed, instead of outwitted.Just in this tournament, while Sri Lanka have casually cast aside losses to two of the tournament favourites, essentially taking the view: “We just need to take care to get to the quarters, who we get is irrelevant,” South Africa have appeared particularly hurt at their two defeats.”I just want to sit in my room and feel sad,” de Villiers said after the 130-run loss to India. He suggested his team may “not be as good as we think we are” and were “not prepared to fight it out”, after the match against Pakistan. Then, not a week after having “nothing good to say about the team,” de Villiers delivered as high-flying a self-appraisal as has been heard all World Cup long. “I 100% believe we are the best team in the tournament here,” he said.The thing is, he could well be right. At the very least, they should outgun Sri Lanka. De Villiers has not scored as many runs as Kumar Sangakkara, but he is unarguably more dynamic. Hashim Amla hit two hundreds and averaged 86 in the most recent series between these teams, which South Africa comfortably won. In Morne Morkel, Kyle Abbott and Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn has pace support that often daunts opposition batsmen. Lasith Malinga decidedly does not. Even in spin – that great pride of Sri Lanka – South Africa have appeared more polished in this tournament. Imran Tahir’s 11 scalps have come at 23.36, far cheaper than Rangana Herath’s wickets. If his finger doesn’t heal, Herath may not even play at all.Reason suggests South Africa should coast into the semi-finals. They are fitter and faster in addition to being so skilled. But they are up against opponents who give no heed to reason. Sri Lanka have been a side that sparks suddenly and emphatically around a spell, or a run out, or a cameo.The Sydney quarter-final will not be the most-watched, nor does it feature the tournament’s new favourite teams. But it is not short on intrigue, because on Wednesday evening, one team will seek to ride high on their emotion, while another strives to keep a grip on theirs.

Their teams may have missed out on the knockout berth, but their bright individual performances left a mark on the tournament

Arun Venugopal16-Mar-2015William Porterfield, Ireland275 runs, 45.83
Best performance: 107 v PakistanIreland kept the Associates’ flag flying high throughout the competition, and central to their plucky performances was their captain. Although Porterfield didn’t play a leading part in any of Ireland’s three wins, his leadership on the field and off it – where he passionately argued against the shrinking of the next World Cup to 10 teams – made an impression. Porterfield’s best performances came against two top teams: India and Pakistan. His century against Pakistan in a must-win encounter eventually proved futile.Jos Buttler, England145 runs, 35.25
Best performance: 65 v BangladeshThere were a few eyebrows raised when Buttler was appointed vice-captain of the England side. His value as a wicketkeeper, apart from his work ethic and calm, were perhaps factored in. The stage, therefore, was set for him to showcase his utility in the lower middle-order in a tricky chase against Bangladesh. Buttler played himself in and looked good to seal the game, but his dismissal culminated in England’s defeat and eventual exit from the tournament. Buttler had also made an unbeaten 39 off 18 balls earlier against Sri Lanka, again in a losing cause.Ed Joyce, Ireland246 runs, 41
Best performance: 112 v ZimbabweEd Joyce has in the past spent considerable time switching between England and Ireland. He represented England in the 2007 World Cup before reverting to Ireland in the next edition. There was further vindication of that decision this time around when he was at the heart of two significant wins: after scoring 84 against West Indies in a match where Paul Stirling and Niall O’Brien also contributed substantially, Joyce struck a 103-ball 112 to set the foundation of a match-winning total against Zimbabwe.Brendan Taylor has played his farewell game for Zimbabwe•Getty ImagesBrendan Taylor, Zimbabwe433 runs, 72.16
Best performance: 138 v IndiaIt’s impossible to gloss over the poignancy of Taylor’s two recent centuries coming in what were, for now, his last two innings for Zimbabwe. At the end of the league phase, Taylor had more runs than AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan in the World Cup, and was the second-highest scorer after Kumar Sangakkara. His hundreds against Ireland and India came at a strike-rate of 125-plus. In the India game he came in after the fall of two quick wickets and counterpunched spiritedly. Zimbawe coach Dave Whatmore said Nottingamshire, with whom Taylor, 29, has signed a Kolpak deal, were “very, very lucky” to have him. Zimbabwe evidently not so lucky.Shaiman Anwar, UAE311 runs, 51.83
Best performance: 106 v Ireland”Anwar’s doing very well in the team and he’s such a confident individual that we call him ‘Sir Viv’ in the dressing room – that’s his nickname,” UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir said after Anwar’s 62 against Pakistan. You can’t fail with a nickname like that. An employee with a shipping firm, Anwar was the highest-scorer at the halfway stage, and became the first UAE batsman to score a World Cup hundred.Sean Williams, Zimbabwe339 runs, 67.80; 7 wickets, 40.85
Best performance: 96 and 3-72 v IrelandNot long before Taylor announced his decision to pursue a Kolpak deal, Williams, 28, was ready to walk away from Zimbabwe. In this tournament, he and Taylor have provided their team with runs and plenty of them. In Zimbabwe’s agonising defeat against Ireland, Williams chipped in with three wickets before partnering Taylor with the bat. There was an encore, against India, of the Taylor-Williams show, and Williams rounded off his campaign with his fourth half-century.Samiullah Shenwari, Afghanistan254 runs, 42.33
Best performance: 96 v ScotlandBefore Shapoor Zadran set off on his delirious run, it was Shenwari who had set the base for Afghanistan’s first win in the World Cup, over Scotland. He ground out 147 balls before being the ninth man out. He played useful hands against New Zealand and Bangladesh as well, and finished as Afghanistan’s highest run-getter in the tournament.Josh Davey, Scotland15 wickets, 20.73
Best performance: 4-68 v EnglandFor Davey, the step up from a little-known seamer of an Associate side to the highest wicket-taker in the World Cup – even if briefly- was as rapid as it was remarkable. It’s certainly good enough to update his Twitter bio that until now describes him as “Entrepreneur and chocoholic.” Davey’s first notable performance was a three-wicket burst as Scotland ran New Zealand scarily close. His performances thereon went north; an economical two-wicket spell in a gutting defeat versus Afghanistan was followed by a five-for against England and the wickets of Sangakkara, Dilshan and Jayawardene against Sri Lanka.UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir has charmed people with his humour•ICCShapoor Zadran, Afghanistan10 wickets, 26.50
Best performance: 4-38 v ScotlandOne image is certainly likely to catch the fancy of TV production crews when they put together a World Cup montage as the tournament winds down: that of Shapoor, fists clenched, bolting at full tilt before spreading his arms and falling onto the ground in sheer elation after striking the boundary to accomplish Afghanistan’s historic triumph over Scotland. But there was more to the left-armer than his strapping build, shock of hair and Shoaib Akhtar-inspired run-up, as his four-for in the aforementioned game showed. Shapoor, who watches videos of Wasim Akram the night before every game, turned in sturdy performances against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, too. That he can perform the Attan, the Afghan war dance, fits in snugly with his rockstar persona.Hamid Hassan, Afghanistan8 wickets, 32.62
Best performance: 3-45 v Sri LankaIf Shapoor features in the montage, Hassan’s ungainly cartwheels can’t be far behind. With a headband and Afghanistan’s colours smeared on the cheeks, Hassan’s Rambo avatar is the sort of thing television feeds on. It helps he can bowl fast, and has a big heart. He produced that sort of a performance against Sri Lanka, who were nearly stunned by Afghanistan. “If I’m doing something wrong in a match, I watch myself on the big screen and when I touch my face, I get paint on my fingers,” Hassan told cricket.com.au. “And I say ‘You’re playing for your country, think about what you’re doing here’.”Mohammad Tauqir, UAE5 wickets, average: 46.20
Best performance: 2-38 v IrelandTauqir, at 43, became the oldest captain in World Cup history. While he wasn’t even the leading wicket-taker in his own team, his loopy off-spin made him the stingiest at 5.26 an over. Tauqir’s off-field success wasn’t insignificant either; the good-natured bluster sprayed with humour endeared him to many. Just look up his comments on having a “lot of cleaning of shoes” to do, or how UAE would avoid conceding 400 against South Africa only if they batted first. An investment banker by day, Tauqir, one of the two Emiratis in the squad, will go back to his “waiting employers” a more popular man.

Flashing advertisements on the sightscreen behind the batsman causes bowlers and umpires to be unsighted leading to dropped catches and possibly even injuries

Sidharth Monga in Ahmedabad24-Apr-2015In the 10th over of the Rajasthan Royals innings, Karun Nair offered legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal a return catch. It was not a powerful blow. More of a push that popped back to the bowler at an easy pace. Chahal stuck a hand out, but couldn’t hold on. His impatient captain Virat Kolhi let his disappointment known, but Chahal had other things on his mind. He had hurt the little finger on his spinning hand, and immediately gestured to show he didn’t pick the ball.How could he have? On the sightscreen behind the batsman was an advertisement. Not just a static advertisement, but a glowing, electronic one. Trying to pick a white ball in the white advertising is worse than trying to pick a red ball in a static-but coloured background. On air, two former India bowlers who have played in the IPL, called it immediately. Left-arm quick RP Singh was the first to point out Chahal seemed to have lost the ball in the lit sightscreen. Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik responded, “I don’t know about you, RP, but I often had trouble picking balls hit back at me in the IPL.”Two of the refreshingly sharp young commentators spoke from experience, and made an important observation. A catch had been dropped, and Chahal had to go off the field with only one ball bowled in the over, which meant he would miss out on bowling 21% of his quota even if he was to come back after repairs. If you went by Chahal’s reaction, and by the instinctive comments of two Test cricketers who have played in the IPL, the advertising on the sightscreen played its part.Which should raise the question: if the batsman gets the right to a clear background when facing the ball, why shouldn’t the bowler enjoy similar privileges? Of course not every ball is hit back at the bowler, but the ones that are have a lot riding on them. The reaction time for a bowler when the ball is struck at him is little. And while the other fielders don’t get a sightscreen to catch the ball against, they don’t have to contend with a glowing advertising in white font either.More than the return catch, though, the safety of the bowler and the umpire should be important to the authorities. Neither of them wears a helmet although the day is not far when an umpire might. With modern bats and freed minds, batsmen are hitting balls harder than ever before. An umpire died last year of a ricochet off the stumps at the non-striker’s end. A sudden freakish spate of on-field injuries has made us suddenly realise that ours is a dangerous sport, and safety – apart from the batsman’s – has not been given the attention it deserves.Those who have played cricket consider it a miracle there hasn’t been an accident yet. “Sooner or later a bowler or an umpire is going to getting seriously hurt,” Ian Chappell said at ESPNcricinfo’s recently. “Because the ball is getting back so quickly they have got no time to react. They have got a similar problem in baseball, another game that I follow. It has got to a point where last season they were offering pitchers padded caps. Even if we don’t believe that the balance [between bat and ball] is out of whack because of the depth of the bat – and if they don’t believe that they are out of whack – there is this danger aspect, and they [authorities] have got to seriously look into that.”It will take time and deliberations to regulate the thickness of the bat, but in the mean time do we really want to impede return catches in the already full-of-dropped-catches league and also put the bowlers and umpires at more risk ? And for what? The extra buck after about 240 degrees of the boundary is already sold to the advertiser? Not worth the cost, be it a dropped catch or an injury.

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Aug-2015While Rogers resolutely left balls outside off, David Warner got into his groove with some crunching pulls•AFPHe brought up a half-century off 76 balls•AFPEngland finally broke the opening partnership after lunch when Mark Wood had Chris Rogers pushing out to slip for 43, thus maintaining his average•Getty ImagesDavid Warner was also out nicking behind; Moeen undoing Australia’s soon-to-be vice-captain with turn…•AFPAnd Michael Clarke, who came in at the fall of Warner, in his 115th and final Test, was given a guard of honour•Getty ImagesShortly after tea, Ben Stokes had Clarke caught behind, despite a review•AFPClarke walks off after making 15•Getty ImagesSteven Smith, though, headed up Australia’s consolidation, and progressed to a solid half-century. During the process, Smith went beyond 3000 Test runs•Getty ImagesHe was ably assisted by Adam Voges before bad light led to early stumps. Australia ended strong at 287 for 3•Getty Images

There was a lot more to Virender Sehwag than see ball, hit ball

Aakash Chopra26-Oct-2015In the Chennai Test in 2004, Australia were bundled out minutes before the end of the fourth day’s play and India had to bat 18 balls before stumps. Their openers, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, played out the overs and came back unbeaten, but not before Sehwag had hit three cracking boundaries. That evening I said to Sehwag what a relief it must be to stay unbeaten and start afresh the next morning. To my utter disbelief, he was genuinely disappointed that the session hadn’t last a few minutes longer, since it had denied him a few more runs. He believed that since it was a short session the Australians would have kept attacking, which would have allowed him to hit a couple more boundaries.To understand the significance of Sehwag’s desire to bat longer, it’s important to know that the time of day openers dread batting in most is not the first over of a Test on a seamer-friendly pitch, because that’s what most of them prepare for. It’s when the opposition have been bowled out or have declared 15 to 20 minutes short of close of play. That’s when your body and mind are tired, and you know that there’s everything to lose and nothing to gain. Even if you survive that brief period, you won’t go back in feeling confident the next morning because you have haven’t faced enough balls. The worst-case scenario is losing your wicket and watching the rest come back refreshed the next morning to bat. Most openers will admit that they secretly want the opposition to bat a little longer on such days.This enhances our appreciation of the way Sehwag batted. But it’s not as if batting was always a one-dimensional pursuit for him in which he wanted to hog the strike. At times he was candid enough to admit that the non-striker’s end was a better place for him.In 2003-04, India decided to bat first on a slightly damp pitch in Sydney. Brett Lee was bowling one of his better spells, in which the ball swung like a banana at high pace. Somehow I got stuck at his end for the majority of that spell. I couldn’t rotate the strike. At the end of the innings Sehwag, who made 72, told me that if it weren’t for my getting stuck at one end, he wouldn’t have got any runs. Not that he denied singles or purposely stayed away from facing Lee, for that wasn’t his style. Just that he was acutely aware of what might get him into trouble. In fact, when I said to him that the arrival of the first-change bowler would make life easier, he said it was futile to think in that fashion, because if I wanted to bat the entire day I would have to play every bowler many times over.Sehwag wasn’t above admitting it when he found the going tough, like in Sydney in 2004•Getty ImagesHonesty
Sehwag’s biggest strength was his absolute honesty with regard to his own strengths and weaknesses. While he could play almost all the shots in the book (and create a few shots of his own), he couldn’t hook and pull the seamers and sweep the spinners all that well – a fact he was happy to accept. He wouldn’t take on bouncers even when he was well set and batting on 150, ducking under them instead, regardless of his form or the number of runs on the board. Similarly, he wouldn’t sweep spinners. That tells you that he had immense self-control and discipline, and, more importantly, the wisdom to realise his potential and limitations. It’s a difficult balance to maintain when you’re playing at the top level. Sehwag’s style of batting made you believe it was instinctive, but it wasn’t. There was method to his madness. He had the self-control to not attempt things he couldn’t achieve.Most players with so many shots to work with develop a certain arrogance over time, but not Sehwag. Once in a while, he allowed the ego to get the better of him, but that was mostly against spinners, when he knew the dice were loaded in his favour.Facing pace
“Sehwag is blessed with great eyes and hands” was the most common comment to describe his game. Since his batting was all hands and very little feet, it’s a sound assessment, but little do people realise that he worked really hard to become the batsman he was. He started as an offspinner who batted in the lower middle order for his club, school and state sides. While he wasn’t a walking wicket against seam bowlers, they did fancy their chances against him and often got him out too. For someone who was only half-decent against pace at club level to become one of the finest Test opening batsmen needed a lot of hard work. Sehwag was the first to get into the nets and the last out. Whenever two nets were set up for a session, one for pacers and one for spinners, it was a given that he’d beat you to the pacers net. He knew that he’d be confronting pace in the match, and so practising against it was critical to his success.I’ve also seen him practise for hours against the bowling machine to get used to extra pace. He batted at No. 7 in his first international match, against Pakistan in Mohali, and Shoaib Akhtar trapped him leg before* for 1. Sehwag looked a little at sea against genuine pace that day, and after that he didn’t leave a stone unturned to rectify that shortcoming. A genius makes nurture look natural.Sehwag worked hard in the nets to improve his batting against pace bowling•AFPA thinking batsman
“If it’s there to be hit, I don’t think if it’s the first ball of the match. I just hit it,” Sehwag would say when asked if he ever thought about going after a certain bowler from the start of a match. That made people believe he was an instinctive batsman. But he thought a lot about the game and batting.In a Ranji game against Orissa on a very poor pitch, where batting was an almost impossible task (the match finished inside two days), Sehwag at one point suddenly walked down the pitch to a medium-pacer and played a wild slog, missing it by a couple of feet. I went to him, hoping to calm him down, but he told me that he had planned to step out and get beaten, because now the bowler would try to pitch it short. He was right. The bowler walked into the trap and Sehwag dispatched the next two balls for boundaries.In a match against Punjab in Ludhiana once, Sehwag was running a high fever and went out to bat on the last day when Delhi were in a spot of bother. Since running was out of the question, he started hitting big shots. He also engaged the opposition captain, Vikram Rathour, in a wager. The deal was that Vikram would leave a gap unplugged and Sehwag would try to hit his next boundary through there. This little game within the game went on for the duration of his 175-ball 187. Not only did he know how to get the best out of himself, he also wasn’t shy of displaying a little bit of gamesmanship.Sehwag’s style was uncomplicated, but it’s foolish to believe that there wasn’t any planning involved in the way he batted.Courage of conviction
Since Sehwag didn’t move his feet much, his biggest strength was his balance. And quite early in his career he understood the importance of bringing his bat down straight. But the flip side of his limited foot movement was that he ended up playing inside the line quite often, which meant he frequently got beaten outside off. While most batsmen will tell you to forget what happened on the last ball, not many are able to practise what they preach. However much you want to forget, if you’re beaten, you tend to brood about where things went wrong. Did I not move my feet enough? Did I pick the wrong line? Did my head fall over a little? As a result you tighten your game up a little. Sehwag might give the previous ball a thought but never enough importance to change his style of play. Even a barren patch wouldn’t force him to re-examine his batting technique.While Sehwag’s faith in his technique played a big part in his success, it also contributed to his downfall towards the end of his career•BCCIThe moment he went through a slightly lean patch, a lot of well-meaning advice came his way, about moving his feet a little more, playing close to the body, and all the rest of it. His conviction in his own style of play was his biggest asset. If he had paid heed to what others were saying, he wouldn’t have become the Sehwag we admire so much. It was always his way or the highway.Unfortunately, while his faith in his batting held him in good stead for the majority of his career, it perhaps didn’t allow him to reinvent his game towards the latter half. Even when he was not as successful, he didn’t try to change tack. When his eyes weren’t seeing as they used to, the hands were still moving as they did before. There might have been a case to be made for trying to find another way of scoring runs, for his way was no longer working as well it had done. It’s a travesty that someone who redefined Test opening and happened to be one of India’s biggest match-winners wasn’t a part of the Indian team when he bid goodbye.But then if it were in him to change, he wouldn’t have been the player he was. Those who live by the sword, die by it too.*October 28, 12:16GMT: The piece originally said Sehwag was cleaned up round his legs. This has been corrected

Plus: the biggest difference between scores by openers, and the highest Test totals without a no-ball

Steven Lynch12-Jan-2016Martin Guptill held the record for the fastest T20 fifty for about 20 minutes – has anyone ever held a record for shorter? asked Mike Shaw from Canada
What happened in the recent T20 in Auckland was that Martin Guptill scored New Zealand’s fastest T20 half-century, in 19 balls, but Colin Munro then hurtled to one in just 14 deliveries shortly afterwards. Guptill reached 50 from the fifth ball of the fifth over, and Munro got there from the last of the 10th, winning the match with another six. Yuvraj Singh’s 12-ball half-century for India against England in the World T20 in Durban in 2007 remains the fastest in all T20 internationals.Leaving aside short-lived marks set in a team’s early matches, there are some notable examples of cricket records not lasting very long. Arguably the most famous was Australia’s 434 for 4 in Johannesburg in March 2006, which was comfortably a record one-day international total at the time – the previous highest was 398 – but it didn’t survive the night, as South Africa made 438 for 9 to win by one wicket.Charlotte Edwards held the record for the highest score in women’s one-day internationals for a few hours on December 16, 1997, after making an undefeated 173 for England in a World Cup match against Ireland in Pune; later that day Belinda Clark hit 229 not out for Australia against Denmark in Mumbai.Something similar may have happened on the first day of the men’s World Cup, in England in 1975. The highest individual ODI score going into the tournament was David Lloyd’s 116 not out for England against Pakistan in Nottingham in 1974 – but on the opening day of the inaugural global competition Dennis Amiss made 137 for England against India at Lord’s, while in a match that started at the same time, Glenn Turner was piling up 171 not out for New Zealand against East Africa at Edgbaston. Amiss was out in the 51st over, while Turner batted throughout New Zealand’s 60; we don’t have exact timings but it’s possible the record changed hands more than once during the day. (Thanks to the brains trust on the Ask Steven Facebook page for some of these.)West Indies bowlers took only 12 wickets in the recent series against Australia. Is this the fewest for a three-Test series? asked Tushar Mukherjee from the United States
That’s a good spot, as it turns out that the 12 wickets taken by West Indies’ bowlers in the recent series in Australia was easily the fewest in any three-Test rubber. The previous worst was 16, by New Zealand at home to South Africa in 1998-99, and by Bangladesh in Sri Lanka in 2007 (when Sri Lanka won all three Tests by an innings). The fewest wickets taken by bowlers in a four- or five-Test series is 31, by South Africa in five matches in England in 1924. England took all 120 Australian wickets in the six-match Ashes series of 1978-79.Jomel Warrican was not out in all his five innings in Australia. Was this a record for a three-Test series? asked Allan Alexander from the United States
The Barbados slow left-armer Jomel Warrican scored 44 runs without being dismissed in his five innings in the recent series in Australia. He currently boasts a heady Test batting average of 65, when those runs are added to the 1 (out) and 20 not out he made in his only previous Test, against Sri Lanka in Colombo in October. In fact, Warrican wasn’t dismissed in Australia at all – in his only other innings, in a two-day warm-up against Victoria in Geelong, he made an unbeaten 22. Warrican is the first player to have five innings in a three-Test series and be not out in all of them; there are some others with five undefeated innings out of five, but they were in longer series in which the players concerned missed one or more matches. Australia’s Bill Johnston, for example, had six innings in the 1953 Ashes, and was unbeaten in all of them – but he missed two of the five Tests. An earlier West Indian slow left-armer, Alf Valentine, had eight innings in the 1960-61 series in Australia, and was not out in all of them, a record matched the following season by the New Zealand swing bowler Frank Cameron in five Tests in South Africa. For the full list, click here.In the Perth Test against Zimbabwe in 2003-04, the difference between the scores of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer was 354 – a record for openers•Darren England/Getty ImagesEngland didn’t bowl a single no-ball in South Africa’s innings of 627 in Cape Town. Was this the highest Test innings not to include any? asked Savo Ceprnich from South Africa
The highest Test total which features a zero in the no-ball column is West Indies’ 790 for 3 declared against Pakistan at Kingston in 1957-58 – the innings in which Garry Sobers set the then record individual score of 365 not out. South Africa’s 627 for 7 declared against England in Cape Town earlier this month comes in joint seventh on this particular table. But it’s possible that some of the entries on that list did contain some no-balls: until around 1980, when the scoring convention was changed, no-balls that were scored from would not have shown up. So the only higher total we can be sure did not contain a single no-ball is Pakistan’s 708 against England at The Oval in 1987. What’s the biggest difference in scores by opening batsmen? Is it 325, when Graham Gooch made 333 and Mike Atherton 8 in the 1990 Lord’s Test? asked Sujana Datta from India
There are actually three instances bigger than the 325 you mention. In Peshawar in 1998-99, Australia’s captain Mark Taylor made 334 not out against Pakistan, but his opening partner Michael Slater was out for 2. When Len Hutton amassed 364 for England against Australia at The Oval in 1938, Bill Edrich was out early on for 12. But the winner is Matthew Hayden: during his 380 for Australia against Zimbabwe in Perth in 2003-04, his opening partner Justin Langer departed for 26, a difference of 354.How many bowlers have conceded 100 runs in an innings at Lord’s? If there were such an honours board, would Ian Botham and Stuart Broad be on it, giving them a complete set, as they are on the centuries, five-wickets-in-an-innings and ten-in-a-match boards too? asked Gareth Sutcliffe from South Africa
If there were such a board, it would have to be a pretty big one, as there have now been 212 instances of an individual bowler conceding 100 or more runs in an innings during a Test at Lord’s. Ian Botham would certainly be up there, as he conceded a ton there on a record eight occasions; Stuart Broad has done it just once so far. Andrew Flintoff collected four bowling centuries; the Australian legspinner Clarrie Grimmett is unique among visiting bowlers in conceding three. The only man to give away more than 200 runs in a Test innings at Lord’s is India’s Bishan Bedi, with 6 for 226 in 1974.Send in your questions using our feedback form.

Stats highlights from the second ODI between Australia and India at the Gabba where the hosts recorded their 16th consecutive win at home.

Shiva Jayaraman15-Jan-201616 Number of consecutive ODIs won by Australia at home including this. This is the joint longest streak of win in ODIs at home by any team. West Indies had such a streak from 1986 to 1990 and Sri Lanka won 16 consecutive ODIs at home (excluding the walkovers against Australia and West Indies in the 1996 World Cup).301 The previous highest target chased in ODIs at the Gabba, which the hosts themselves did against England in 2014. This is also the fourth highest target to be successfully overhauled in ODIs in Australia and only the seventh in excess of 300.2 Instances before this match when a team failed to defend totals of 300 or more in back-to-back ODIs. West Indies had lost to India in two consecutive ODIs in 2002. In the first game though, India were declared winners on the basis of Duckworth-Lewis method by 83 runs while chasing a target of 301. The second instance came in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in 2007 when Australia failed to defend targets of 337 and 348 in the second and third game of the series. With this defeat India have failed to defend targets of 300 or more on ten occasions, which is second only to England’s 11 instances.2 Batsmen who have got five or more ODI hundreds against Australia before Rohit. Sachin Tendulkar made nine hundreds in 70 innings and Desmond Haynes made six in 64 innings. Rohit is the quickest among the three, having taken only 20 innings for the milestone. Tendulkar took 21 innings and Haynes 28. Rohit has made 1151 runs in ODIs against Australia at 71.93 including five hundreds and two fifties.2 Batsmen before Rohit Sharma with back-to-back ODI hundreds against Australia in Australia. Graeme Hick had done this with hundreds in Sydney and Adelaide in 1999. VVS Laxman had got hundreds in Brisbane and Sydney in 2004.0 Number of ODI totals by visiting teams at the Gabba higher than India’s 308 in this game. The previous highest was Sri Lanka’s 306 against the hosts in 2011-12, made while chasing a target of 322. India’s score is also the fourth highest ODI total by any team at this venue.295 Runs scored by Rohit between dismissals in his last two innings – he had made an unbeaten 171 in the previous ODI – which is the second highest score by a batsman between dismissals in ODIs against Australia. Haynes had made 375 runs – scores of 102*, 104*, 123* and 46 in four consecutive innings – the highest such aggregate by a batsman.95.85 George Bailey’s average in ODIs against India. His 76* in this innings was his sixth fifty-plus score against them in nine innings. In each of these innings he has scored more than 70 runs.1 Number of batsmen before Rohit who scored three ODI hundreds against Australia in Australia. Viv Richards got three hundreds in 38 innings against them. Apart from Rohit, Laxman is the only India batsman to get more than one hundred against the hosts in Australia.2000 The last time Australia had an opening stand in ODIs against India higher than the 145-run partnership between Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh. Adam Gilchrist and Mark Waugh had added 163 runs for the first wicket in Adelaide. The partnership in this match was Australia’s joint fifth-highest opening stand against India in ODIs. This was also the fourth-highest opening stand at the Gabba in ODIs.125 Partnership between Rohit and Virat Kohli – the third highest for any wicket by a visiting pair in ODIs at the Gabba against Australia. Rohit and Kohli have already added 332 runs in two innings in this series. This is already the third-highest runs added for the second wicket in any bilateral series against Australia. This was the ninth century stand between the two in ODIs. Click here for India pairs with most century stands in ODIs.124 Runs by Rohit in this match – the highest by an overseas batsman in ODIs against the hosts at the Gabba and the joint second-highest by an overseas batsman against any opposition at this venue. This is also the joint second-highest score by an opener in ODIs at this venue.2 Number of scores by India’s No. 4 higher than Ajinkya Rahane’s 89 in ODIs, against Australia. Ajay Jadeja is the only one to make a century against them – he had got an unbeaten 100 at the Oval in the 1999 World Cup. Mohammad Azharuddin had got 94 in Mohali. Rahane also completed 2000 runs in ODIs during his innings. He has 2041 runs at 33.45 in 63 innings including two hundreds and 14 fifties.38/5 India’s total in the last five overs of their innings. India lost four wickets in the last two overs and scored only 13 runs. India were well placed at 233 for 2 at the end of the 40th over before their innings derailed, with the last ten overs producing 75 runs for the loss of six wickets.