All posts by n8rngtd.top

Somerset’s cricketers have done all they can to win the County Championship for the first time. Now all they can do is wait

Paul Edwards at Taunton23-Sep-2016Prospero is right. Our revels now are ended. Well, not quite, of course. They concluded here at Taunton on the third evening of this match with a skied catch, a retirement and much hurrahing in harvest. But, as the mowers trim the County Ground’s deserted square, cricket continues at half a dozen other venues around England, and at three of them matters of great moment are to be decided.All Somerset’s players and supporters can do is sit in their many pavilions and wait upon the Lord’s judgement. Perhaps that is not an inappropriate occupation in this church-towered town, to where, in 1798, Coleridge walked 11 miles from Nether Stowey to conduct services at Mary St. Chapel. There will be prayers today, too.And this evening the season will be done with. Both Championship and relegation will be decided and writers will be left to produce reviews of it all. Before long the players will depart for golf, for holidays with their families and for deserved rest.For over five months they have delighted and intrigued us. And perhaps it is only as the season closes that we fully appreciate the level of skill on show. Consider Jack Leach, for example: he is able to bowl a cricket ball so that it lands as often as not on a particular spot some 20 yards distant; not only that but the ball will be spinning away sharply from the batsman and looping with overspin so that the batsman may be deluded into thinking that it will land nearer to him than it eventually does.Or there is a batsman, James Hildreth, shall we say, who can hit a ball travelling at 80mph precisely between two fielders with, among many other arts, a turn of the wrists and a transference of weight. What complexity of brain, nerve and sinew is needed to do that? Only when you reflect on these skills is their full stature revealed; in the high days of summer they can be taken for granted or remarked upon only when absent.Something like this was noticed by the great essayist William Hazlitt in his classic 1821 essay :”Coming forward and seating himself on the ground in his white dress and tightened turban, the chief of the Indian Jugglers begins with tossing up two brass balls, which is what any of us could do, and concludes with keeping up four at the same time, which is what none of us could do to save our lives, nor if we were to take our whole lives to do it in. Is it then a trifling power we see at work, or is it not something next to miraculous?”

For over five months they have delighted and intrigued us. And perhaps it is only as the season closes that we fully appreciate the level of skill on show

And county players do these things for over five months of the summer in a wide variety of conditions against opponents whose skills are quite the equal of their own. Their efforts make up a pageant which bewitches their teams’ many supporters and causes them to follow their results even when living very far away.And to most county cricketers and supporters it is the Championship which matters most of all. As I am writing this the Stragglers Café below me is filled with Somerset supporters, all of them hoping against reason that nobody wins the game they are watching. You cannot move for wyverns on chests or anxious looks on faces. In 2012 the former Somerset committee member, Roy Harris, died but asked his grandson to promise that he would be present if his beloved county won the Championship. Yesterday the gentleman turned up at the latter stages of the match wearing his grandfather’s Somerset blazer. He had travelled from Iceland – the country, not the frozen-food joint.And this is the competition of which we must have less? This piece is being written by someone who has enjoyed T20 games and been amazed by the inventive skills on show. Yet also by someone who understood precisely what Stephen Chalke meant when he entitled his history of the County Championship .It is easy to be seduced by enmity or to assume that those who run the ECB are double-dyed malefactors with the game’s worst interests filling their evil minds. They are not like that. But they have done nothing for their case by failing to ask the current supporters of county clubs what they think of their ideas. Our masters look a little rude. For it is a curious plan which is predicated more on speculation as to who might attend cricket matches than the evidence of those who actually do. I’m not sure I would trust a doctor who told me my heart was not terribly important.Advertising boards are being removed from the County Ground. An area has already been roped off for later in the afternoon when players will either be consoled by the media or begin a celebration which will last until All Souls’ Day. But wherever the title ends up, cricket grounds are settling quietly into autumn and winter. Business will continue, of course. There will be conferences and Christmas parties. Press boxes will be filled with discussions of sales figures and exam papers; the members’ suites will be given over to wedding receptions and retirement do’s.Then spring will come, freezing cold as likely as not, but the players will still begin their outdoor practice in England. They will be back with their gripes and their groin strains, their-odd warm-ups and their lovable clichés, their absurd level of skill which they will offer us from April to September. Miranda was right, too. O brave new world that has such creatures in’t. And so we wait in this Tyrolean chalet of a press box at Taunton. Before us is perhaps the most-mentioned range of hills in county cricket. On the outfield Somerset’s cricketers are playing football with their children. Perhaps they cannot bear to watch the television. To our left is the full glory of St James’s and its churchyard, and behind us are the tree-thronged humps of the Blackdowns. Throughout the town people are talking about two sessions, chuck-ups and when Middlesex might pull out. It is no good saying that it will be easy to leave all this for another season but we are tougher than we think; and complex in ways beyond our imaginings.But then, you see, Prospero was correct in another respect, too. We are such stuff as dreams are made on.

Aakash Chopra breaks down some of the technical talking points from Chepauk

Aakash Chopra18-Dec-2016Parthiv and the right length
The toughest thing to figure out for a fast bowler while bowling to Parthiv Patel is the right length. His stature allows him to go on the back foot quickly and, while he doesn’t get close to the ball when it is full, he is adept at playing on the up on the front foot. In addition to that, he is comfortable opening the face of the bat to get singles. The ideal length is to make him drive but the lack of lateral movement off the pitch makes it a difficult to go fuller often. The seamer’s pitch-map to Parthiv suggests that England’s bowlers tried too many things without sticking to any one method for long enough.Rahul and the impact of the IPL
KL Rahul’s young Test career can be divided in two halves — before and after the IPL. There has been a visible change in his approach after his successful season with RCB in 2016. Before, his strike rate in Tests was 47 but post-IPL it has shot up to 62 runs per hundred balls. The average number of balls he takes for a boundary stroke has also come down to 12 from 18. He started the second day in Chennai with two lofted shots against Liam Dawson and went on to reverse sweep Moeen Ali. While the world has moved back to more orthodox Test openers (David Warner is the only aberration), Rahul is taking a different path. In Tests, the technical aspect of batting overshadows the mental side of it but Rahul is highlighting the role mindset plays in the course you take. He hasn’t made any technical changes to bat more fluently–it’s just the mindset that has changed in last six months.Rashid fits a season into a tour (almost)
The criticism of England’s spinners has been about their accuracy, which imperative for penetration. While Indian pitches are spin-ready, the conditions still demand a spinner pound the same area ball after ball, over after over. Adil Rashid is England’s most successful bowler in this series but his economy rate suggests that he hasn’t been able to build enough pressure. Rashid has bowled 274.3 overs on England’s Asian tour, spread over nine weeks – almost as many as the 293.2 he sent down for Yorkshire in the county season (although his involvement was limited by England call-ups). Bowling at the highest level demands takes a lot out of your body and, perhaps in part due to his increased white-ball role, it seems Rashid isn’t used to this kind of workload.Ben Stokes removed Cheteshwar Pujara but only bowled seven overs on the third day•Associated PressCook’s problem of plenty
Ben Stokes didn’t bowl a single over in the first session. He bowled four in the second session and picked up a wicket in those 24 balls. After tea, he bowled three more overs before disappearing until the end of play. Right through this series, Alastair Cook hasn’t utilised his resources well. Having lots of options puts you in an enviable position but that can also cloud your decision-making with regards to using them judiciously.Rahul v Spin
Most good players against spin are either very nimble on the feet or use the sweep shot well. Rarely do you see players who are quick to go down the pitch and also are equally comfortable in employing the sweep shot, and Rahul is from that rare breed. In fact, there are very few Indian batsmen who prefer the sweep to tackle spin, let alone playing the reverse-sweep. He is not just eager to dance down the pitch but also has a fair amount of control on all variations of the sweep shot. Rahul’s overriding thought while facing spinners is to look for scoring opportunities, even if that meant taking a few risks.

In what was possibly a direct shoot-out with Parthiv Patel for the India Test wicketkeeper’s spot, Wriddhiman Saha recovered after making a duck in the first innings in typically understated fashion

Arun Venugopal in Mumbai23-Jan-2017Wriddhiman Saha doesn’t get angry, but his family would rather he did. He is on Whatsapp, but send him a text longer than three lines and you will have lost his attention. Saha doesn’t wear hipster beards and endorse the most happening products. Nor is he colourfully coarse and earthy, like a Virender Sehwag or Praveen Kumar. Saha is the bank clerk you see at the Esplanade metro station or the salesman sipping under the Gariahat flyover. He is the ultimate everyman.Saha’s career has been about waiting. He has to wait for MS Dhoni’s retirement to find a permanent place in the Test side. Once there, you think he is in for good with his credentials as the best specialist wicketkeeper in the country and a solid lower-middle-order batsman.He is injured, but his captain and coach still back him as the team’s first-choice wicket-keeper. But his replacement, Parthiv Patel, has notched up a bunch of impressive performances. Now it is more a “happy headache” for the team rather than a straightforward choice.Saha once again has to wait, this time for his injured hamstring to heal.After two months of no first-class cricket, Saha comes back to what is probably a straight shoot-out with Parthiv for the Test wicketkeeper’s spot. The immediate stakes are five home Test matches against Bangladesh and Australia. Saha scores a duck in Rest of India’s first innings and puts a catch down in Gujarat’s second innings. The chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad, is at the Brabourne Stadium to watch the game. His colleague, Sarandeep Singh, is doubling up as Saha’s coach at Rest of India.With Parthiv managing only 11 and 32 – he is also a victim of bad luck after being wrongly given out caught at short leg in Gujarat’s second innings – Saha probably has one innings to break the tie. He comes out with his team on 63 for 4, needing 379 to win, and keeps hitting the ball in the air to smash an unbeaten 123. You expect him to play down the pressure of competing with Parthiv, and he does. But there is no fist-clenching, vein-bulging celebration after the hundred.There is no statement to make.”Even during my stint with Bengal, at no point do I feel that I will play for India if I do well,” he said at the end of the fourth day’s play in Mumbai. “I keep playing freely. He [Parthiv] is also trying his best, I am also trying. Whoever is selected, will play. It’s not like I have to perform today and prove a point.”Wriddhiman Saha is open to experimentation behind the stumps too•WICB Media Photo/Athelstan BellamyWhen he was asked if he was now the undisputed first-choice wicketkeeper, there was more candour in his delightful Bengali-inflected Hindi: “I don’t know. I just do my job and [leave it for those who are supposed to decide to decide].”On the surface, Saha may seem all vanilla, but there is no monotone to his cricketing smarts. He said his decision to counterattack was as calculated as it was pre-meditated. Saha stood well out of his crease to deny what he called the “five-feet advantage” to the bowlers. “In the first-innings we had seen that our wickets had been lost with the moving ball,” he said. “Even I got out that way. I told others in my team that I will attack initially. That worked and the bowlers started bowling shorter, which reduces the chances of being leg before or bowled.”Hitting along the ground was difficult here when compared to clearing the field, which was safer – if you time the ball, it’s surely a four. Before coming here, I played two-three practice matches during Bengal’s preparation for the T20 league. That helped me as well.”When I was playing my shots, Pujara told me to keep going because we needed runs. Had we played normally, we might not have got these many runs. [It also helped that Pujara was batting at the other end].”With his keeping, too, Saha is anything but “authentic”, and is open to experimentation. Saha now takes a step forward with his left foot that gives him momentum before settling into a final position. “I keep making minor changes [this way or that way],” he said.”Whatever I am comfortable with, I stick to it. Jyaada authentic or aise hi karna hai waise hi nahin [I don’t stick to authentic or set practices].”Saha spent nearly a month at the NCA in Bangalore on rehabilitation.Most of his time there was spent on doing strengthening exercises and running even as he kept close tabs on his India colleagues’ on-field performances. Wasn’t there ever a sense of frustration at missing out?Saha smiled and said staying calm was never an issue with him. “I never get angry or frustrated. Even if you ask my family members they would say it’s a problem that I don’t get angry.”All the while, though, Saha kept in touch with his team-mates, and where else but on Whatsapp. A journalist playfully asks him if he can be added to the group, and Saha earnestly replies that he has to ask the media manager’s permission. “We do have a WhatsApp group, [it is there everywhere now],” he said. “So we do keep chatting. I was keeping in touch with the team. But generally I try and stay away from things like Whatsapp. I don’t even read any message that’s longer than three-four lines.”

Atif Mashal, the chairman of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, talks about his plans for cricket in the country during his tenure

Interview by Peter Della Penna28-Apr-20173:01

‘Cricket is a tool for peace-building’

What made you want to leave working in Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani’s office to come into cricket administration?
I worked with the government for two and a half years, but my love for cricket and interest in cricket made me come into this field. I applied for the position because cricket is my hobby and I was thinking how to support cricket in Afghanistan. Cricket is not only a game in Afghanistan. It is a tool for peace-building and unity. We are a post-war country. After four decades of war, we really need something to unite our people, to use it as a peace tool. So that’s why it was very, very important for me.You say it is a passion. How did you first develop a love for cricket?

When I was a refugee in Pakistan, I was in grade seven and we would play cricket in our primary school. We had a small ground. I was always skipping my classes to play cricket with the tennis ball. Then we moved to Peshawar and I was playing there with a tennis ball. That was my hobby, always skipping classes and going to a cricket ground. I was not that good bowling or batting, but from my early childhood I was very involved with cricket and always loved the game. At that time we didn’t have TVs, so we were listening to radios when there was a match with Pakistan and someone – India or Australia.What is the No. 1 objective you want to accomplish as chairman?
It’s a few things, not just one thing. First, I want to develop our administration. Our team is performing very well but we need to balance it with administration in our board.Second, I will be providing more technical support for our national team, because they are on a very good stage, [targeting] Full Membership. So in this stage my main focus is how to maintain the sustainability of our team. It’s an important thing. Being a good team is one thing but keeping the sustainability of a good team is a tough job and I am committed to keeping my team sustainable in this stage and improving it more.Third, we will be investing in our infrastructure. We have submitted a US$10 million budget to the government, and hopefully they help us in that, to build five stadiums and five national academies in five regions. By this we can develop our domestic cricket, which is the backbone of our future.

“No one targets players. Our government supports them and provides a safe haven for them, but even the people fighting the government won’t target the players”

Finally, I want to introduce cricket to all Afghan provinces. In some provinces, we don’t have that much cricket so I will be working on that.Female cricket is another objective that I have. In our country, there are traditional and religious issues, so we will be very careful of that as well, but in the meantime we will be focusing on this team. The First Lady of the country is much interested to support this area and I will be doing my best to make her help us in this regard.As great as Afghanistan cricket has been on the field, it has been exclusively tied to men’s and U-19 cricket. At the games Afghanistan has played in the UAE, they draw 6000 fans or more, but almost every single one is a male spectator. I know you mentioned there are cultural reasons but what can be done to help change the mindset, among men and women, to encourage women to not only pick up a bat and play but to be spectators too?
First, we have to start from schools. I have discussed with ICC as well – our plan is to introduce female cricket first to schools, because in schools we have infrastructure, we have small grounds and we can spend more money to build infrastructure. That’s a very safe area for females. In a traditional and religious society, males and females cannot play together, so we have to think about separate infrastructure for females. We already have interested females in Herat, Kunduz, Kabul, already playing cricket but with limited access. We don’t have infrastructure. So that is why I [want] to pave the way and provide more facilities for females.About the fans and support, we have our female MPs, they are very supportive. They are always with us in big events. In Kabul we have the Shpageeza tournament. You can see hundreds of women coming there and watching cricket, enjoying and giving support to the teams, but again, we need more facilities and more infrastructure – separate ones, because it’s a stage-by-stage thing, and I will not go radical. I will be taking steps gradually, but I am very committed to this area.”Cricket is not only a game in Afghanistan. It is a tool for peace-building and unity”•Afghanistan Cricket BoardHow much money do you want to invest in women’s cricket?
In Herat we have already planned $1 million to invest in a ground. In Kunduz we will spend $500,000 and in the centre we will be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide them facilities, equipment, give them some tours and training.Just to clarify for people who may not be as familiar with the cultural nuances, you’re saying you need to build separate grounds and facilities for men and women because men and women cannot access or share the same facilities even if they are using them on different days? So then won’t you essentially have to raise twice the funds, because instead of having one facility used by both teams, you have to build two separate ones?
It’s not in every aspect. We may need a separate academy, not a giant academy. We may have a separate practice ground but we may use the [same] general ground for big matches. So in some aspects we need separate infrastructure, like academies, small grounds, gyms. [Women] will be using the Kabul ground, they will be using Herat specifically for them, but sometimes males may use it. I am thinking about practice infrastructure like academy, gym, swimming pool; these should be separate.For the $10 million proposal submitted to the government – where do you forecast the bulk of that money being spent?
Mainly on infrastructure. We will build five stadiums. Some will be newly built, like in Herat for females, and some we will develop. In five national academies, they’ll be equipped with PitchVision and other modern technical equipment. Plus some equipment for the ACB main office.The budget is coming from the government. Alokazay, our main sponsor, will be spending money on our Kabul ground. We are planning to expand the Kabul ground. The government is very supportive to give us more ground close to the Kabul stadium. So we’ll be developing it to a capacity of 20,000, and 2000 will be a separate stand for females, with separate facilities. Alokozay is very supportive of Afghanistan cricket. They have always supported the ACB and we are happy to have them on our side.

“I will not allow any political figure on any level to be involved in the cricket board or to have influence on the cricket board”

How does the issue of player safety within Afghanistan – Shapoor Zadran was allegedly targeted in a shooting in January and the father of Mohammad Nabi was kidnapped and held for ransom in 2013 – affect your development plans in terms of building infrastructure if Afghanistan can’t play at home or host international cricket?
Cricket is the only game. All parties love it. I don’t see any enemies for our players. No one will target them.In Nabi’s case, it was an economic crime. His father is a famous man and they have a big business. It had nothing to do with cricket. In the case of Shapoor, our investigation showed he was not the target. I was very serious asking the government to investigate it. If it was an attack, I want security for my players, and they proved it was not a real attack. It was about his friends, and it was incidental that he happened to be there.The security situation is completely different for players. No one targets them. Our government supports them and provides a safe haven for them, but even the people fighting the government won’t target the players.We had a match in Khost province, a border province. There were 80,000 people who came to the game and everything finished without security, so it means no one is targeting cricketers. The only thing that is safe is cricket.Our players live in very remote areas. Nawroz Mangal lives in a very remote area of Khost, in the mountains, and in that part the government is not in control, but I haven’t heard any complaints. So I assure you that Afghanistan is a safe place for cricket. We can assure all international players that if they are coming for a game, they will be secure. In Shpageeza tournament we had guest players from Zimbabwe, Pakistan, and this time we will have from other countries as well, so it shows that we don’t have a security problem, especially for cricket.”Female cricket is another objective that I have […] Our plan is to introduce female cricket first to schools”•Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty ImagesYou own Kabul Eagles, which is one of the first-class franchises in the domestic league. How long have you been doing that for and what can you take from that experience that will help you in your role on the Afghanistan board?
Kabul Eagles, that was my hobby. I bought that team and fortunately they reached the semi-final in their first year, and last year they won the cup. It’s not the only thing that gives me experience in cricket. I was very closely involved with ACB and I was helping them when I was in the [presidential] palace. I knew the politics of cricket in Afghanistan. I was in the picture of all involved parties. I personally know the players from the last two years, and I know the administrative staff, so I know the positive and negative points of the cricket board, the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. So this will help me to fix things.Kenya is frequently used as an example of what can go wrong on and off the field after reaching a comparatively high level for an Associate. So what needs to be fixed and cleaned up to improve administratively to avoid the same fate?
Our team is much [better] than our administration.We don’t have management information system assistance. We will introduce human resources MIS and some other administrative steps will be taken. We need some technical people in our development department, because infrastructure is the main thing for me. When I leave ACB after three years, I want to have a great legacy for Afghanistan in stadiums, grounds and academies. These are the areas I will be focusing on because I want to balance administration with team performance.First, we have to keep the sustainability and strength of our administration.We will keep working and focusing on the strengths of our players and providing them opportunities to focus on their strengths.

“I really believe in the talent of our players. We have very good youngsters. Our domestic cricket is amazing”

We will keep cricket away from political involvement. Any time there is politics in cricket, the status of cricket [meets its] demise. I will not allow any political figure on any level to be involved in the cricket board or to have influence on the cricket board. We will select players on a merit basis, not based on relations or support they have in the government. We will keep going as per our strategy, not as per the political demands of the country. We will make sure the cricket board is independent, out of politics, and a merit-based institution. These things will sustain our cricket.Where do you hope to see Afghanistan cricket in three years’ time at the scheduled end of your term?
I want to see Afghanistan as a Full Member, a Test cricket nation, and No. 5 in the rankings. I want to see Afghanistan having international-standard stadiums, grounds and academies. The talent I see in our boys, I am pretty sure that we will acquire the [ranking] but it is up to the administration how they can support ACB to have infrastructure.I really believe in the talent of our players. We have very good youngsters. Our domestic cricket is amazing. You can see new names in no time that will be joining our national team, our U-19s. These are assets that we naturally have, and I will be doing my best to provide infrastructure, equipment and technical support to players.I will be very happy to see Afghanistan getting Full Membership and Test status, and to see we are hosting other Full Member countries and we are playing cricket with them, because cricket in countries like Afghanistan, which is a post-war country, is a very good tool for unity and for peace-building.

After missing most of the first half of 2017 due to a serious knee injury, the classy Smriti Mandhana made a sensational comeback in India’s World Cup opener

Annesha Ghosh25-Jun-2017If there was anything noticeably different to the Smriti Mandhana on Saturday in Derby from the Mandhana who had first toured England in 2014, it was only the contact lenses.In the brief history of televised women’s matches, it was the first time that Mandhana had come in to bat without her glasses. Even though their absence may have robbed her of some of the trademark sincerity that her facial expression under the helmet has come to bear, the glint in her eyes never shone more fiercely than it did at India’s 2017 Women’s World Cup opener against England, as she smashed a match-winning 72-ball 90 to set up India’s 35-run win.It was not only Mandhana’s World Cup debut but also her official comeback innings after a five-month injury layoff. A ruptured anterior cruciate ligament sustained during the second edition of the WBBL on January 15 had ended her WBBL stint prematurely. However, by her own admission, what was more disappointing was to miss out on the Women’s World Cup Qualifier in February and the Quadrangular series victory in South Africa last month.With the injury having almost jeopardized her participation in the World Cup, Mandhana made a point in her Player-of-the-Match acceptance speech to reiterate her gratefulness to her coach, Anant Tambwekar, and to the medical team at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. She had spent the greater part of the last five months at the NCA, recovering under physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar and trainers Anand Date and Rajinikanth.”The last four and a half months have been tough for me and I am really thankful to the NCA, Anant sir, Yogesh sir, whoever made it possible for me to play this match,” Mandhana said. “Those were really tough four and a half, five months, but if we do well at the World Cup, it’s going to pay off.”Stumbling into Mandhana during her rehabilitation at the NCA in late March would be the then India Women’s head coach Purnima Rau, who was attending a coaches’ training programme at the academy, under the Representative (Level 2) courses jointly organised by the BCCI and Cricket Australia. Upon finding Mandhana in the training arena, Rau would watch her go through the brisk-walking and running sessions as she tried to regain fitness step by step.”There was a steely resolve in her eyes,” Rau recounts. “Though she was going through the rehab, that look was always there. It was something very powerful, you know, that hunger to break through the bleak phase… you could see it.”Rau’s words resonated well with the single-minded irreverence that Mandhana, the No. 38-ranked batsman in Women’s ODIs dished out to the No. 4-ranked bowler, Katherine Brunt. The first ball Mandhana faced, a short ball angled into her hips, was swatted for a one-bounce four behind square.Mandhana played a near carbon-copy pull off Brunt to the midwicket boundary on the second ball of the fourth over before three caressed back-foot drives to the off-side rope ended a 16-run frame. It was a reprise of the back-foot dominance Mandhana displayed against the Australian medium pace duo of Ellyse Perry and Holly Ferling during her maiden ODI century in Hobart last year.The treatment Mandhana meted out to Natalie Sciver was no different. Replacing Brunt to bowl the sixth over, Sciver repeated the same mistake as Brunt by going short with her first ball to Mandhana, who rocked onto the back foot to greet her with a pulled six over midwicket, and a smile down the pitch. Three balls later, Mandhana was merciless to a fractionally short delivery, scything it over the leg side for one more boundary.Mandhana was ruthless to Nat Sciver’s first delivery, pumping a pull over midwicket for six•Getty ImagesMandhana would consign the other medium-pacers – England vice-captain Anya Shrubsole and Jenny Gunn – to a similar fate. The shot that Mandhana played to bring up a 45-ball half-century, a lofted drive off Gunn over extra cover, was all grace and little menace.In an interview to ESPNcricinfo ahead of the World Cup, India captain Mithali Raj had said Mandhana’s reintegration into the top order may not be easy, owing to the consistency shown at the top by fellow youngsters Deepti Sharma and Mona Meshram.However, given that Mandhana had “scored a lot of runs in England in 2014”, Raj hoped the now 20-year-old “will be among the runs in the World Cup”. It is this faith in Mandhana’s experience and efficacy in overseas conditions that may have led Raj to pick her in the tournament opener, alongside both Deepti and Meshram.When asked about Mandhana finding fluency on her comeback innings, Shantha Rangaswamy, the former chairperson of the BCCI women’s selection committee, did not express much incredulity.”If you assess the caliber of this girl, this knock doesn’t come as a surprise,” Rangaswamy said. “She is one of the most focused youngsters in the side, and has been so all through; else she wouldn’t have been able to rise through the ranks so easily. She has worked hard to get past that injury – both mentally and physically.”Rau echoed Rangaswamy in her assessment that there is a depth in Mandhana’s head-space that she can plumb at will. It is almost as if Mandhana can summon something “very powerful, very mystical” from the recesses of her mind to negate any physical pain, any sort of defeat.”As a coach, one of the first things I had noticed in Smriti is her aggression,” Rau said. “It is not the usual full-of-animation kind of aggression, but a quiet and latent one. When she puts her mind to something, she’ll want to give it all, come what may. No matter what the situation – low, high, pain, no pain – under all circumstances, she’ll give her 100%. She may stutter, she may fall, but she’ll keep going against all odds.”Rau had seen Mandhana from close quarters when she had injured her shoulder in the third T20I against Australia at the SCG last year, prior to the three-match ODI series. Mandhana was forced to sit out the first ODI in Canberra, but took less than a week to recover and made it back into the starting XI for that second ODI in Hobart where she notched her maiden ODI century.”The resilience she showed in that Hobart hundred is not something you get to see every day, or from everyone,” Rau said. “Her ability to zone-out pain is incredible. [It] speaks volumes about her character and not just her talent.”In that ODI in Hobart, she had forged a 150-run second-wicket stand with Raj, plundering 11 fours during her 109-ball 102. Against England on Saturday, she put on 144 for the opening wicket with Punam Raut, bashing as many fours and two sixes during her 72-ball knock.Outside of missing a ton by just 10 runs, the only other blemish for Mandhana on the day came when she limped off the field in the 16th over of England’s innings with a left leg injury. Mandhana had put in a sliding stop on the square leg boundary in an effort to prevent a four by Sciver and it initially appeared that she may have reinjured the same left knee that kept her out for most of the year. Mandhana said afterward it was not the knee but rather a slight hamstring strain and was hopeful of being fit for India’s next match on Thursday against West Indies.Perhaps the hunger for making it back to the XI that kept her going through the layoff spurred her on to a comeback of this kind. That it was in England, where an 18-year-old Mandhana had announced herself on the world stage with a half-century on Test debut plus a fifty in her first ODI on foreign soil, was particularly fitting.”There is something very deep about this girl, something very strong,” Rau says. “There’s a measure of quality tinged to her batting and her career… a degree of class. Wherever she finishes, at the end of the road, that quality tinge will be there.”

Stats highlights from Old Trafford where England wrapped up their first home series win over South Africa since 1998

Gaurav Sundararaman07-Aug-20171998 – Last instance of England beating South Africa in a series at home. In 2003 it was drawn, while South Africa won in 2008 and 2012. This was also the first time since 1960 that England won three or more Tests in a series against South Africa.8 – Players to have scored 250 runs and taken 25 wickets in a Test series .This all-round feat has been achieved only nine times in Tests, and Moeen Ali is the only one to achieve it in a four-Test series. The other eight instances were achieved over either five or six Tests. The last to achieve the double was R Ashwin against England in 2016.2 – Players to have scored 250 runs and taken 20 or more wickets in a series comprising four matches or less. Moeen and Richard Hadlee feature in this list. The tally of 25 wickets taken by Moeen in this series was his highest so far in his Test career.ESPNcricinfo Ltd2 – Losses for South Africa in an away series since 2007. Before the defeat to England, South Africa lost to India in 2015. During this period they won 12 and drew three away Test series’.11 – Spinners from England to take 25 or more wickets in a Test series. Before Moeen, Graeme Swann was the last to achieve this, during the 2013 Ashes in England.5 –Man-of-the-Match awards for Moeen Ali in Tests since his debut – the joint most for England, alongside Joe Root, in this period. Only Steven Smith has more such awards with six.3 – Centuries scored in the entire series. There were also 27 half-centuries. The 10% conversion rate is the worst for any Test series of four or more matches. Pakistan’s tour of India in 1979 had three centuries and 26 fifties, which is second worst. Since readmission, this is only the second time that South Africa have managed just one individual century in a Test series of a minimum of four matches. They didn’t score any during the tour of India in 2015-16.113 – Runs made by Heino Kuhn in this series – the second worst for an opener from South Africa in Tests having played a minimum of eight innings. Kuhn could manage a top-score of only 34 in his debut series.2 – Number of century stands for England this series, out of six overall. The last time England had fewer century stands was in the 2013-14 Ashes in Australia. South Africa’s top run-scorer this series, Hashim Amla, was involved in three of four century stands.

The part-timers low-slung spinners have accounted for some big names

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-2017

Former India batsman pays tribute to Wadekar, following his death due to a prolonged illness in Mumbai on Wednesday

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Aug-2018″Sunil, sorry, he is no more.” Those devastating words conveyed to me that ‘my captain’ Ajit Wadekar had passed away. Just a little while earlier, I was trying to help put him in the car to rush him to the hospital since the ambulance was going to take another 15 minutes to arrive and even then it looked like it was a hopeless battle.Ajit Wadekar was my captain when I made my debut for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy and he was my skipper when I got my India cap. So for me he was always ‘captain’. That he was from Shivaji Park Gymkhana and I was from Dadar Union Sporting Club – the great rival clubs then -made no difference as I was a fan first. Those days there was hardly a single weekend where you didn’t read that Wadekar had got a century. He was so prolific in local and Ranji Trophy cricket that it was a surprise to many that he made his India debut as late as 1966 against Garry Sobers’ West Indies team. Five years later it was against Garry Sobers’ team that he led India for the first time and went on to win the series, beating West Indies for the first time. A couple of months after that he led India to another historic win when India beat England in England for the first time.He was unkindly called a lucky captain by those who couldn’t stomach the fact that he had replaced the charismatic Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi as the skipper. The then Chairman of selectors, batting legend Vijay Merchant was also pilloried by some for it was his casting vote that made Wadekar the new Indian captain then. Even after these twin wins and another in India a year later neither Vijay Merchant nor Ajit Wadekar got the credit they deserved for bringing India those hat-trick of wins.Ajit retired from Test cricket suddenly when he was left out of the West Zone team for the Duleep Trophy by a committee led by another Indian great, Polly Umrigar and thereafter concentrated on his banking career and also cricket administration with the Mumbai Cricket Association. He also was a successful manager/coach of the Indian team in the early 1990s. When some of us sportspersons requested the Maharashtra Government for a plot of land to build an apartment block, it was Ajit who took the lead and there was Umrigar also in the society formed showing that he harboured no hard feelings towards his senior. Being the promoter, he got the top floor of the building when it was built and since I was on the floor immediately below him he used to always joke, ‘I am the only one on top of Sunny’.In recent times with my travel schedule, we hardly met but whenever we did, he would, as usual, come up with a joke in his easy drawl.There’s hardly been a day when I haven’t mimicked his at least once and not just me but even Sachin Tendulkar told me that he too says the same at least once a day.My captain is no more but he will always be with me when I say, .

Ajay Rohera broke Amol Muzumdar’s record of highest score by a debutant in first-class cricket, as seven matches finished on the third day

Saurabh Somani08-Dec-2018At the end of the second day of the fifth round of Ranji Trophy 2018-19, a debutant and two men playing their final matches were in sight of significant achievements, and all three got there. And in Dehradun, two men emulated VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid.As many as seven matches finished on the third day.Record-breaking debuts, and fairy-tale farewellsMadhya Pradesh’s Ajay Rohera was one hit away from getting the highest score on debut in first-class cricket when play ended on Friday in Indore. He didn’t get there in one hit, but he did break the record set byAmol Muzumdar. Muzumdar had made 260 against Haryana in Faridabad in February 1994. Rohera finished on 267 not out before Madhya Pradesh declared on a massive 562 for 4. They then shot Hyderabad out for 185 to win by an innings and 253 runs and pocket seven points. To make it sweeter, Rohera also earned praise from the man whose record he had broken.

Would like to congratulate the youngster on this achievement. What an Effort. Records r meant to be broken, n I’m glad that the record stays in the ‘Country’. well done to Ajay. Enjoy the moment.! https://t.co/c1lqiqndDd

— Amol Muzumdar (@amolmuzumdar11) December 8, 2018

Gautam Gambhir was on 92 overnight, and duly completed a 43rd first-class century, signing off in style in his final match. Gambhir’s century, and Dhruv Shorey’s 98, have ensured Delhi will take the first-innings lead against Andhra, though with only a day’s play left and Delhi 409 for 7 in their first innings, an outright result doesn’t appear likely.Saurashtra’s Jaydev Shah had missed out on a hundred in his last match, making 97 in the first innings. He made only 4 in his second innings – thus ensuring that he’ll end up with a first-class average below 30 – but Saurashtra won the battle of spinners against Karnataka to send their captain into retirement with an 87-run win.1000 miles away, Eden reprisedDehradun is actually 1051 miles away from Kolkata, but the Uttarakhand pair of Vineet Saxena and Rajat Bhatia did a Laxman-Dravid, batting the entire day without being separated. The pair had come together just before the tea break on Friday. At stumps on Saturday, they both had double centuries and their partnership was worth 399 runs. Meghalaya might have fancied their chances of a first-innings lead after having Uttarakhand 92 for 4 in reply to their 311 – but they couldn’t have predicted 90 overs of toil without a wicket.
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Results already inRajasthan have been on a remarkable run in Group C, and already have four wins from five games. They beat Assam by an innings and 43 runs, thanks to Aniket Choudhary‘s match haul of ten wickets. Choudhary took 5 for 38 in the first innings and 5 for 40 in the second, as Assam could muster only 108 and 174 in their two digs. Rajasthan have now raced away to 28 points, and are on top of Group C.Uttar Pradesh might have expected to find themselves on top of their group, and with 24 points in five games thanks to three wins, that would have been a reasonable expectation. Only Rajasthan’s even more brilliant run has pushed them to second. But UP have been a force in Group C, and their latest win underlined that. Having conceded a 102-run first-innings lead to J&K, they struck back to first bowl the team out for just 111, and then ease to a victorious fourth-innings chase. Most pleasingly for them perhaps, Suresh Raina found some form after a long time, hitting 66 not out, while Rinku Singh added a quick 42* to his first-innings 66. The hero for UP though, was Saurabh Kumar, who took career-best match figures of 11 for 118.Baroda missed out on a bonus-point win, losing one wicket while chasing down a target of 28 against Chhattisgarh. The visiting team had been bowled out for 129 in the first innings but put on a better show in the second with 283, but with Yusuf Pathan’s century having taken Baroda to 385, Chhattisgarh had too much to catch up on and make a match of it.Bihar shut out Arunachal Pradesh by an innings and 317 runs, with Ashutosh Aman running through the visitors. Aman took 7 for 14 for a match haul of 11 for 40 – both career-best figures – as Arunachal tumbled from an overnight 98 for 1 to 135 all out.Manipur quelled Nagaland’s challenge for a seven-wicket win. After a dismal 126 in the first innings, Nagaland’s were driven by their professionals – KB Pawan (131) and Abrar Kazi (90) – to 334 in their second innings. Manipur didn’t stutter on their way to the 125-run target though. Yashpal Singh, Manipur’s professional, made an unbeaten 35 in the chase, having earlier taken 5 for 46.Rajat Bhatia made his highest first-class score while batting all day with Vineet Saxena•ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Notable performancesRohera’s innings stole the show, but Avesh Khan had an equal hand in MP’s victory, taking 7 for 24 and 5 for 30 to send Hyderabad crashing. It was the first time Avesh had taken ten wickets in a match, and his first-innings figures were also his best ever.The man who made Jaydev’s farewell a happy one was Dharmendrasinh Jadeja. He had already taken 7 for 103 in Karnataka’s first innings, and he followed that with 4 for 44 in the second, including trapping R Samarth plumb in front off the first ball of Karnataka’s chase.Watch out for…These final day matches could have a thrilling finish:Maharashtra are leading against Mumbai by 191 runs with five wickets remaining. They had begun the match well, but collapsed from 310 for 4 to 352 all out. Mumbai couldn’t capitalise, though with a familiar face to battle the crisis – Siddhesh Lad, captaining Mumbai for this game – they made 273. In the second innings though, Mumbai have strangulated Maharashtra, whose scoring rate has been 2.15.Jharkhand let slip a good start, going from 57 for no loss to 172 all out. They fought back though, as Odisha were bowled out for 201 after being 7 for 3 at one stage. Saurabh Tiwary‘s unbeaten 132 then set Odisha 260 to win. They’re 81 for 3 at stumps, and the match is fascinatingly poised.When Tripura bowled out Haryana for just 119 in their second innings, they might have thought a rare win was near, with only 162 to chase. However, they find themselves 104 for 7, and even that is a recovery from 75 for 7. The good news for Tripura is that Pratyush Singh, who made 76 in their first innings, is at the crease on 23.

Brief scores

Groups A and B:Gujarat 367 (Panchal 69, Chawla 130, Amit Mishra 4-93) & 4/0 trail Railways 547/9d (Bhille 116, A Ghosh 93, Mahesh Rawat 119*) by 176 runs in Valsad. ScorecardMaharashtra 352 (Gugale 101, Khurana 71, Pande 74, Parkar 4-56) & 112/5 (Dube 2-7) lead Mumbai 273 (Tare 63, Lad 93, Ranjane 54*, Ashay Palkar 4-62) by 191 runs in Pune. ScorecardBaroda 385 (Yusuf 129*, Bhatt 67, Arothe 63, Verma 4-184) & 31/1 (Devdhar 25*) beat Chhattisgarh 129 (Swapnil 5-23) & 283 (Dhaliwal 79, Manoj Singh 61) by nine wickets. Scorecard
Saurashtra 316 (Jaydev 97, Suchith 6-111) & 79 (Deshpande 3-5, Shreyas 3-10, Suchith 3-29) beat Karnataka 217 (Nischal 58, Nair 63, D Jadeja 7-103) & 91 (Nair 30, D Jadeja 4-44, Makwana 5-28) by 87 runs in Rajkot. Scorecard
Delhi 409/7 (Gambhir 112, Shorey 98) lead Andhra 390 (Bhui 187, Bhati 5-48) by 19 runs in New Delhi. ScorecardPunjab 84 (M Dagar 4-22) & 195/8 (Garg 48, Gurvinder 4-43) trail Himachal 390 (Kalsi 82, M Dagar 71) by 111 runs in Mohali. ScorecardKerala 152 (P Rahul 59, Rahil Shah 4-32, T Natarajan 3-43) & 27/1 trail Tamil Nadu 268 (Indrajith 87, Shahrukh 92*, Warrier 5-52, Thampi 4-62) & 252/7 (Kaushik 59, Indrajith 92, Sijomon 4-51) by 341 runs in Chennai. ScorecardMP 562/4d (Rohera 267*, Yash Dubey 139*) beat Hyderabad 124 (Himalay 69*, Avesh 7-24) & 185 (Rohit Rayudu 72, Avesh 5-30) by an innings and 253 runs. Scorecard
Group CTripura 250 (Pratyush 76, MB Murasingh 44, Harshal Patel 4-49) & 104/7 (Pratyush 23*, Amit Rana 4-37, Tinu Kundu 3-19) v Haryana 292 (Bishnoi 82, Rahul Dagar 114, Ajoy Sarkar 5-57, MB Murasingh 4-74) & 119 (Himanshu Rana 64, Ajoy Sarkar 3-15) by 57 runs in Agartala. ScorecardServices 184 (Ravi Chauhan 75, Prabhudessai 5-52) & 277/5 (Paliwal 91, G Rahul Singh 81*) lead Goa 259 (Darshan Misal 101, Pathania 5-74, Pandey 4-59) by 202 runs in Porvorim. ScorecardUttar Pradesh 188 (Rinku Singh 66, Rasool 4-47) & 218/4 (Raina 66*, Rinku Singh 42*) beat J&K 290 (Rasool 87, Irfan 91, Saurabh Kumar 6-90) & 111 (Saurabh Kumar 5-28, Yash Dayal 4-26) by six wickets in Jammu. Scorecard
Odisha 201 (Sarangi 58, Pradhan 54) & 81/3 (Sarangi 41) trail Jharkhand 172 (Basant Mohanty 5-44) & 288 (S Tiwary 132*, R Mohanty 4-87) by 178 runs in Ranchi. ScorecardRajasthan 325 (Lomror 133, Salman Khan 71, Mali 5-62) beat Assam 108 (Aniket Choudhary 5-38) & 174 (Gokul Sharma 77, Aniket Choudhary 5-40) by an innings and 43 runs in Jaipur. Scorecard
Plate GroupSikkim 247 (Milind 96, Pankaj Singh 3-21, Rohit D 3-67) & 105/3 (Ashish Thapa 52) trail Puducherry 647/8 d (Dogra 253, Fabid 99) by 295 runs in Wayanad. ScorecardUttarakhand 491/4 (Saxena 202*, Bhatia 212*) lead Meghalaya 311 (Bisht 154, Nagar 91, Dhapola 6-52) by 180 runs in Dehradun. ScorecardManipur 336 (Raghav 228, Tahmeed 5-108) & 128/3 (Lakhan Rawat 55) beat Nagaland 126 (Priyojit 3-20) & 334 (KB Pawan 131, Abrar Kazi 90, Yashpal Singh 5-46) by seven wickets in Sovima. Scorecard
Bihar 536/5 (Indrajit 222, Babul 98) beat Arunachal Pradesh 84 (Ashutosh Aman 4-26) & 135 (Samarth 58, Ashutosh Aman 7-14) by an innings and 317 runs in Patna. Scorecard

Also: was West Indies’ total of 45 the lowest in any T20I?

Steven Lynch12-Mar-2019Adam Zampa has now got Virat Kohli out five times. Which other bowlers can claim to have Virat’s number? asked Pranav from India

The Australian legspinner Adam Zampa has indeed now dismissed Virat Kohli on five occasions in internationals – three times in ODIs, and twice in T20Is. There are actually 12 men who have got him out more often, admittedly usually from more attempts. Leading the way, with eight, are the England pair of James Anderson (five in Tests, three in ODIs) and Graeme Swann (four in each). Next, with seven, come Nathan Lyon (all in Tests, the most for anyone), Morne Morkel (four in Tests and three in ODIs), Ravi Rampaul (six times in ODIs – the most – and once in Tests) and Tim Southee (five in ODIs, two in Tests).Five Englishmen – Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes – and one Australian (Pat Cummins) have dismissed Kohli on six occasions in internationals. Thisara Perera of Sri Lanka has, like Zampa, nabbed him five times.Was West Indies’ total of 45 the lowest in any T20I? asked Mark Hartford from England

West Indies’ headlong collapse to 45 all out in Basseterre last week was the lowest in T20Is by a Test-playing nation. The previous lowest was 60, set by New Zealand against Sri Lanka in the World T20 in Chittagong in March 2014, and equalled by West Indies against Pakistan in Karachi in April 2018.There has been one lower total by a non-Test nation: Netherlands were shot out for 39 by Sri Lanka in March 2014, also in Chittagong during the World T20.There have been several lower totals in women’s T20 internationals, which since last July have included all matches between ICC member countries. The record at the moment is 14, by China against United Arab Emirates in Bangkok in January.Who has scored the most runs in one-day internationals without ever making a hundred? asked Keith Matthews from England

There’s a clear leader here: Misbah-ul-Haq scored 5122 runs in 162 ODIs for Pakistan, with no fewer than 42 half-centuries – but his highest score was 96 not out, against West Indies at The Oval in the Champions Trophy in June 2013. Misbah’s highest five scores in ODIs – 96, 93 and a trio of 83s – were all not-outs.Two more Pakistanis are next on the list. Wasim Akram scored 3717 runs in 356 ODIs, with a highest score of 86, while Moin Khan made 3266 in 219 matches, with a highest of 72 not out.The record in Tests is held by Shane Warne, who scored 3154 runs with a highest score of 99, while the most in T20Is as I write is shared: both Virat Kohli (highest score 90 not out) and Shoaib Malik (75) have scored 2263 runs.Misbah ul-Haq has ten hundreds in Tests, but not one in ODIs – the closest he’s come is 96 not out against West Indies in 2013•Getty ImagesI hope he’ll play another one, but at the moment Will Somerville has played one Test for New Zealand, and won it. I think this is rare for New Zealand, who don’t win often! Has anyone else done this? asked Michael Woods… from New Zealand

Offspinner Will Somerville made his Test debut for New Zealand against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in December 2018, not long after returning to his native land from Australia, where he had played for New South Wales. Somerville hasn’t yet played another Test, although it’s a bit soon to write him off.You’re right in thinking that a 100% success record is unusual for a New Zealander. At the moment there are 31 Kiwi one-cap wonders, and only two of the others (apart from Somerville) were on the winning side in the only Test they played: fast bowlers Andre Adams, against England in Auckland in 2001-02, and Gary Robertson, against Australia in Auckland in 1985-86.You talked last week about people who had been out second ball for six. But has anyone ever been out second ball for five? asked Chris Evans from the Netherlands

My first thought was that there wouldn’t be any – but that’s always dangerous! Actually, as this table shows, there are nine known instances in men’s international cricket – six in ODIs and three in T20s. The first eight all involved a run-out – usually a case of a four followed by the player being caught short going for a second run next ball – but the most recent case was more interesting. Playing for Pakistan against New Zealand in Dubai in a one-day international in November 2018, Faheem Ashraf got off the mark first ball with a five (thanks to some overthrows), and then was out to the next delivery he faced.Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions