With two months to go for the T20 World Cup, Harmanpreet Kaur’s team is being tested by Australia’s strong line-up

S Sudarshanan15-Dec-20222:16

India’s bowling depth a concern

After losing the third T20I against Australia to go 2-1 down in the five-match series, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted her side is missing a bowling coach but was happy with the way the bowlers are taking charge of the situation.When Ramesh Powar was head coach, he used to take care of the bowling department, but India have not had a full-time bowling coach since he moved out of the role. Renuka Singh, who made her debut just over a year ago, is the leader of the pace attack, having played 30 internationals.Related

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All of the first three games have had scores in excess of 170. While India couldn’t defend 172 in the opening match, they conceded 187 in the second game and 172 in the third.”I know we are missing a bowling coach but our bowlers are taking charge,” Harmanpreet said after the 21-run defeat on Wednesday. “They are participative in bowlers meetings. They have full responsibility and today [it was] all their plans and they were leading the way, I was just supporting them in the middle.In the absence of an experienced seamer in T20Is – read Shikha Pandey – Renuka has been thrust into the role of being India’s prime bowler. Only two fast bowlers – both from UAE – have taken more T20I wickets than Renuka since her debut.”Renuka has the experience because she has done well in the past six-seven months and has got good results,” Harmanpreet said. “Whenever we set plans for pace bowlers she takes the lead and our video analysts give us a lot of information.”Talking about spin bowlers, almost all spinners have played a lot of T20 cricket like Deepti [Sharma], Radha [Yadav], Rajeshwari [Gayakwad]. Devika [Vaidya] is new to the team but she also has the experience of international cricket and has done a lot of homework with respect to international cricket.”It’s a tricky situation for a team aiming to win its first world title at the T20 World Cup next year. With less than two months to go before India take on Pakistan in the opening game, they are still zeroing in on their bowling attack. Minus a bowling coach that is.Anjali Sarvani celebrates after bowling Tahlia McGrath for her maiden international wicket•BCCIAfter India’s tour of England last August, Powar had emphasised on creating a fast-bowling pool, after which Renuka and Meghna Singh got their maiden call-ups for the tour of Australia in September.While Renuka is a shoo-in, Meghna, who made her ODI debut last year but only played her first T20I earlier this year at the Commonwealth Games, was part of the first two matches against Australia before making way for Gayakwad in the third. In her nine T20Is so far, Meghna has bowled her quota of four overs only once.India’s reluctance to use a seam-heavy attack in white-ball cricket has resulted in Meghna often missing out on a spot in the XI. Until recently, Jhulan Goswami used to lead the attack in ODIs with Renuka and Pooja Vastrakar for company. In T20s, Renuka and Vastrakar often used to comprise the two-seamer attack.Vastrakar was a key figure in India’s seam-bowling plans but her injury has left India short of resources. As a result, Harmanpreet has had to rely on spin more than she would have liked in the penultimate series ahead of the T20 World Cup in February.”[We are missing] Pooja for sure. On these tracks you need a medium pacer,” Harmanpreet said. “Definitely when you bowl back-to-back spin bowling, it allows opposition batters to settle easily. We are definitely missing Pooja because she has the experience of death-overs bowling. We tried Meghna in the first two games but it didn’t click.”In a bid to strengthen the pace department, India gave a debut to Anjali Sarvani, who became the first left-arm seamer to play a women’s T20I for India. She came off a good domestic season, topping the bowling charts in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy as well as the Senior Women’s inter-zonal T20s. After going wicketless in her first two games, Sarvani picked up two wickets in the third, which included a perfect inswinger to bowl Tahlia McGrath for her maiden wicket.Australia scored only 26 for 2 in the first four overs, bowled by Sarvani and Renuka. “The way we bowled in the powerplay, especially Renuka and Anjali [was commendable],” Harmanpreet said. “They were swinging the ball and bowled according to the plan. They were not giving easy runs to the batters.”The squad India pick for the tri-series in South Africa, also featuring West Indies, is likely to be the one that goes to the T20 World Cup, where India will hope to better their runners-up finish from 2020. While Vastrakar’s return will bolster their attack, they will hope they have more experience in their ranks and guidance from the dugout.

A year into the allrounder’s groundbreaking tenure at the helm, a look back behind the scenes at the lead-up into his crowning

Vithushan Ehantharajah29-May-2023″Oh no, oh no, oh no.”When he was told by Joe Root that he would be stepping down as England’s Test captain after five years in the job, Ben Stokes relayed the news to his wife, Clare. Her response was immediate and dismayed. She knew what was coming and was understandably concerned.Stokes had returned to the side for the Ashes in Australia after a mental-health break during the 2021 summer and was just starting to feel like himself on the Caribbean tour that followed. Now, with Root stepping down, Stokes was the one standout candidate for the Test captaincy.Related

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The fear from those close to him was that it might be a bit soon, though they did not doubt Stokes had the skill sets for the job.”I hope Stokesy doesn’t mind me saying, but he was not in the greatest place himself when I started playing,” says Ollie Robinson, who first lined up alongside Stokes during that 2021-22 Ashes. “He was a shell of the person I’d seen in the [previous] 12 months.”The start of the Ireland Test on Thursday this week will mark a day over a year since Stokes first walked out at Lord’s as England men’s newly appointed Test captain. The journey since then has been as successful as it has been thrilling.For England to be where they are now – stable, thriving, comfortable in their skin – with thoughts of beating Australia later this summer, speaks of a remarkable turnaround. Those fears about Stokes’ capacity for the job have turned out to be unfounded.The month leading up to that first Test against New Zealand last year was uncertain. The top of England men’s cricket was being rebuilt after a number of departures. What has become clear since, however, is that Stokes was far more than just a brick in the rebuild. Rather, he was the scaffolding.

Stokes did not want to give the impression that the captain was above his players. His rationale was that he would do the things he needed to do, but none of it needed to be about him: the team comes first

Communication was a key part of his toolkit. He took calls, made calls, spoke to players, outlining how he wanted to be as a leader, talked about the cricket he wanted to play and the messages he wanted to purvey. Not all those conversations went well, not all the messages were crystal-clear, but by the time he walked out for his first toss as Test captain, the basic structure for the success that followed was in place.

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In his last media interaction as captain, Root reiterated his desire to take the team forward. Privately, though, he was done. He officially stepped down on April 16, the day before Rob Key was appointed managing director. The timing was no coincidence – the two had had conversations when it became clear Key was to assume the role.Before the announcements, Key texted Root to see where he was at, assuring him that no conversation needed to happen straight away. Root had asked for time off following the defeat in the Caribbean and Key did not want to intrude.Root called him back a minute later. Over the course of an hour and a half, Root said he would be stepping down and gave his thoughts on a new direction for the team. In conclusion, he said Stokes might be the ideal replacement to affect necessary change.Just as well, because Key only had eyes for Stokes. He had already spoken to those around Stokes to gauge his readiness and to assess what would have to be in place to get the most out of him in a demanding role.As it happened, Stokes flipped Key’s first chat around and they spoke about how best to help Root continue through the summer. One aspect was the need to bring the team closer together. During the tough times, when England won just one Test in 17 before the 2022 summer, Root felt isolated from the wider group; the nature of being captain during this period meant some team-mates kept their distance.During the tour of West Indies last year, when England were far from their best, Stokes spoke to the dressing room in support of Joe Root and his captaincy•Getty ImagesStokes had always been sympathetic to Root’s struggles and was committed to helping him through the rut. At the end of the tour of the West Indies, as the squad were at their lowest ebb, anxious about their futures, and amid talk of a complete overhaul, Stokes took the floor and gave an impassioned speech about how there was no need for a fresh start. The talent in the room was more than enough to bring back success, he said.Stokes originally regarded even talking of replacing Root as an act of betrayal. That changed when Root informed him he did not want to do the job anymore. Thus, when Key broached the subject again, Stokes was all in. All in enough for Key to drive up north to shake on it and thrash out some ideas, such as bringing in Brendon McCullum as new Test head coach.Stokes made one final call to Root to ask for his blessing – though it was not Root’s to give. Stokes wanted to show loyalty to someone who had stood by him through thick and thin.Root could not have been more encouraging. From that point on, Stokes threw himself into the captaincy. ECB sources were surprised by the level of preparation he had clearly done. While Root, and Alastair Cook before him, were inquisitive to the point of being tentative at the start of their tenures, Stokes had a plan for how he wanted to deal with every facet of the role.He wanted to reduce the number and length of team meetings, particularly those on matters that did not relate to on-field performances. He wanted to cut out middlemen, especially when it came to selection, believing any decision he was responsible for needed to be articulated to the relevant parties by him.He also had a clear idea of how he wanted to approach the media. Not just in terms of how he presented himself but what that meant for the team. The tone was set on his unveiling.

“I said to Stokes, ‘Do you want to say much?’ He just turned to me and said, ‘No.’ That was it. I was like, ‘Well, I’m not going to say anything then'”Rob Key, England director of cricket, about a team get-together ahead of the New Zealand series in 2022

Stokes held firm on two things to do with his first media engagement at the start of May: the location, and what he would wear. His introductory press conference took place at Chester-le-Street, not Lord’s. He wanted to be true to Durham, and part of him also didn’t see the point in trekking down to London and back for a day.He refused to have his photo taken in an England blazer, opting to wear the track suit instead. Even that was a compromise, given his first choice was to do it in his civvies. To this day Stokes refuses to pose for staged photos at Lord’s in an England blazer – something of a tradition for Test captains.Stokes did not want to give off the impression that the captain was above his players. His rationale was that he would do the things he needed to do, but none of it needed to be about him: the team comes first.

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Before McCullum arrived in the UK, England players and staff got together at England’s National Football Centre in St George’s Park, near Derby. With the New Zealand series a few weeks away, it was the first time the whole group got together with Stokes as captain.Over 48 hours, players underwent medical screenings, had headshots taken, and generally spent time with each other, bonding. Some dropped in for a few hours, others stayed for the full two days. James Anderson and Stuart Broad had returned after being axed for the West Indies, and were noticeably chipper. Similarly, an uncapped Matthew Potts, usually reserved, was at ease in this setting. The vibe was very much about opening a new chapter in English cricket. Things felt different.Key, though comfortable with the backroom staff and players, was unsure how to play things with the wider group. He wondered if as managing director he should say a few words.Shortly before he took over as director of cricket, Rob Key spoke to Joe Root, who endorsed Ben Stokes for the captaincy. It turned out Key himself had had his eyes on Stokes for the role•Alex Davidson/Getty Images”We had all just started. Our players, medical staff – everyone’s there,” Key says. “I said to Stokes, ‘Do you want to say much?’ He just turned to me and said, ‘No.’ That was it. I was like, ‘Well, I’m not going to say anything then.’ It was funny – he didn’t say a word.”It turned out Stokes had spoken with players privately, and all of them left those meetings raring to get back in an England shirt. What needed to be said had already been said. Key was impressed. “He’d had his conversations; he didn’t need to do it again. You don’t have to say a thousand words to get the point across.”His ethos had already been put across in his first media briefing as captain, when he asked for “ten selfless cricketers” alongside him. It was then embodied in his first first-class innings after the appointment, when he struck 161 from 88 deliveries against Worcestershire for Durham.Arguably the most profound impact was felt among those “above” Stokes. He impressed in his first selection meeting, which featured Key; McCullum; James Taylor, who was an England selector at the time; performance director Mo Bobat; and David Court (Player Identification and Talent Pathway Lead). Though Stokes was only one of three with a deciding vote on selection, along with McCullum and Key, he struck a balance between being respectful and willing to listen while knowing exactly who he wanted for that first Test squad. He was compassionate, empathetic, and most important, calculated.

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After a round of golf during the 2021-22 Ashes, Ollie Pope was taken aside by Stokes for a quick word.The No. 6 batter had made 35, 4, 5 and 4 in the first two matches of the series. England were two down and something needed to change as a whitewash loomed large. Pope figured he was about to be axed.

Stokes struck a balance between being respectful and willing to listen while knowing exactly who he wanted for his first Test squad as captain. He was compassionate, empathetic, and most important, calculated

“You’re the man to bat five,” Stokes said. He explained that he himself would shift up the order to No. 4, with Pope moving up to slot in behind him. Pope was surprised.”He told me not to worry about selection issues,” he says. “He was obviously backing me to go in and bat No. 5, play the series and stop stressing. Which is what I was doing at the time – overthinking.”The next day, Pope was dropped.”It was a stinker,” he laughs.Stokes found Pope to apologise, saying it was a conversation they probably should not have had. Stokes was trying to be a good vice-captain to Root, and had not clocked a shift in the wind.Pope holds no grudge: “He did sell me down the river at the time, but not in a bad way. I wasn’t playing very well, I’m not surprised I got dropped.”Even if things did not happen the way Stokes said they would, the talk and subsequent apology fast-tracked their relationship. Pope appreciated how much Stokes rated him at a time when Pope did not rate himself. He also liked knowing he could pick up the phone to Stokes for an honest conversation. Which is exactly what he did in the second week of May 2022, when Stokes was about to select his first Test squad.Pope was trawling social media when he spotted a post from the Barmy Army about Root moving back to No. 4. Sensing an opportunity, he put in a call about the No. 3 spot.Though he had not done it before for Surrey, the call was not about selling himself, he says, more about making Stokes aware he was willing to do it. He said he would make the shift for his county in their upcoming Championship match against Kent.Under Stokes, Ollie Pope has made the shift up to No. 3, where he has thrived•Getty ImagesThe conversation was relaxed and straightforward, but Pope did not feel particularly good about it. “I left the phone call feeling very flat,” he says. “He didn’t say I wasn’t going to get picked, but he was like, ‘Stay at four for Surrey this week and just keep scoring your runs.'””It usually means someone doesn’t want to give you the bad news now. They’ll just tell you next week.”A week later, Stokes informed Pope he was in, and that he just wanted him to approach the next match with his usual verve without worrying about changing for a new role. “It took my mind off England stuff for that week,” says Pope, who scored 96 in his only innings against Kent, at No. 4. “Getting another score before that Test series was probably what I needed.”At the end of that Lord’s Test against New Zealand, Stokes told Pope over a beer he had always planned to pick him at three.”I assume it was a good, well-thought-out plan from Stokesy. Or the phone call put it on his radar. Let’s go with the first one!”The 25-year-old has gone on to average 41.63 at first drop, scoring two centuries, and is now Stokes’ official vice-captain.Pope regards himself as an indicator of how Stokes views selection and the game itself. “Like, who puts a guy at No. 3 who was struggling at five or six? It was clear to me after that first selection what he was about.”

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Ollie Robinson was a little confused and a little pissed off.Key had just called him to tell him he would not be part of the Test series against New Zealand. It was not the news he was expecting, or what he had been told to expect.

“Looking back, it was probably best that I didn’t get selected for that [New Zealand] series. I think that gave me the drive to be like ‘Right, let’s sort this out and get on with it'”Ollie Robinson

“What’s going on?” Robinson said in a text to Stokes.A few minutes later, a reply: “Let me get out of this meeting and I’ll give you a call.”Robinson played no part in the tour of the Caribbean, thanks to a back issue. Having been pulled up on his fitness earlier that winter in Australia by the bowling coach at the time, Jon Lewis, the onus was on Robinson to hit the ground running in the summer.It didn’t quite go to plan. Illness meant his domestic season started late, with two matches for Sussex at the start of May, against Middlesex and Leicestershire. It was in between those two fixtures that Robinson – having taken 5 for 66 and 2 for 51 against Middlesex – had a first conversation with “Stokes, the captain”. They had only shared a dressing room for six months but had good rapport, established during the biosecure training bubble at the Ageas Bowl during the 2020 summer. Stokes had no qualms casually dropping in conversation that Robinson would feature from the off.”[Stokes] was like, ‘Just string a couple of games together and you can be in,'” says Robinson. “In my head, I thought, ‘Right, that’s good news. Just a couple of games and that’s me in for New Zealand.'”Even after pulling out of a match for a County Select XI against the touring New Zealand side, Robinson was relaxed ahead of Lord’s. So when Key called to tell him otherwise, he wanted a word with Stokes. What he thought might be an apologetic chat was quite the opposite.”At the moment you’re not quite ready for that [Test cricket]”, Stokes said. “Your fitness isn’t where we want it to be. We want you to bowl long spells and bowl all day and keep your pace as high as your first spell for the whole game.”Stokes dealt Ollie Robinson some tough love ahead of the New Zealand series last summer, and reaped the rewards for it later in the year•Steve Bell/Getty ImagesAt the end came an olive branch. “He said to me if I can get to that place, I’m in his team every single day of the year,” Robinson says.Since returning for the second Test against South Africa in August that summer, Robinson has taken 27 wickets at 21.25. Stokes has been true to his word, picking him for the last seven Tests, and regards him as a lock for the Ashes this summer.”Looking back, it was probably the best thing that happened to me, that I didn’t get selected for that [New Zealand] series,” says Robinson. “Because there’s no way I would have got to where I am now as quick. I think that gave me the drive to be like “Right, let’s sort this out and get on with it.”At that point I hadn’t actually had any clear knowledge or way forward from my back [problems], as well. We were still battling that at the time. That gave me the kick up the a*** to be like, ‘Come on, let’s sort this out. Let’s get some injections, get back training.’ It helped me get to where I am.”

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Stokes eventually decided to give a speech to the whole group at the start of England’s first day of training at Lord’s, ahead of that first New Zealand Test. He spoke then of the need to play more freely and cast doubt from their minds. There was no talk about winning, ambitions to climb up the Test rankings, improving their World Test Championship position, or even about getting into a position to win the Ashes for the first time since 2015. It was all about feel.Stokes used batting as an analogy: that you bat your best when you are “nice and relaxed, and not gripping the bat too tight”. It was all about how he wanted them to feel. Then came something of a rallying cry.”The only voices that are important are the ones in this dressing room. This team is not going to be what is in the , the or Sky. It’s the England cricket team. Me, Baz and everyone else in this dressing room. The only voice you’ve got to listen to is this dressing room.”

England’s players and the team have not just mimicked Stokes’ approach to cricket but also his approach to all of them

Practical methods of applying those principles included turning off the television as soon as technical analysis of someone’s technique came up on the coverage. All that needs to be said, all that needs to be known, is right there in the room with you: these are the people looking out for you.The message was reiterated on the eve of Stokes’ first day in the field as captain.
Graham Thorpe, England’s long-time batting coach, who had lost his job after the Ashes, was seriously ill in hospital. Stokes wanted to show Thorpe he was in their thoughts and asked for a shirt to made with Thorpe’s name and cap number, 564, on the back, to wear out to the middle for the toss.There was one slight issue – he had to wear a blazer. Stokes was adamant the shirt would get aired. In the end, he wore the blazer out to the middle, removing it to reveal the name and number as he flipped the coin alongside Kane Williamson.Speaking to the team the day before, Stokes said it was important Thorpe knew he had their support. That someone who had been so close, so loyal to the players during a tough run now needed them more than ever. He reiterated the importance of being true to yourself and the person next to you, not just the shirt and the cap.The rest – well, you know how that plays out. Ten wins in 12, famous victories over New Zealand, India, South Africa and Pakistan, all through a style of play in his image, underlined Stokes’ worth as a captain. The individuals and the team have not just mimicked his approach to cricket but also his approach to all of them.With the Ashes on the horizon, England’s values are due for the sternest examination of these principles. Can these tenets of enjoyment and selflessness survive defeat at home to Australia? We could be about to find out.What is certain is Stokes has done his utmost to bring the Test team to where they are today. As much through his work on the field as that first month off it.

England don’t play another ODI until September. Have they worked out their best XI yet?

Matt Roller07-Mar-20231. Jonny BairstowODI career: 95 caps, 3634 runs at 46.58, SR 104.12If fit, Bairstow is a shoo-in at the top of the order•Getty ImagesBairstow has only recently started running again after the freak injury he sustained six months ago, and its severity means that a seamless return to fitness and form should not be taken for granted. But if he is anywhere near his best when he returns, Bairstow is an automatic selection as England’s opener – not least in India, where his prowess against spin should come to the fore.2. Dawid MalanODI career: 18 caps, 769 runs at 54.92, SR 93.09Malan has made four centuries in his brief opportunity in the ODI side•Getty ImagesMalan has been the biggest beneficiary of England’s sporadic ODI winter, making three hundreds in nine appearances including a calculated, match-winning 114 not out in Mirpur last week. He will turn 36 before the start of the World Cup and has harnessed his extensive experience since making his England white-ball debut in 2017. As he did in T20Is, he has taken almost every opportunity he has been given in 50-over cricket, to the extent that he could even be marginally ahead of Jason Roy in the pecking order to open the batting.3. Joe RootODI career: 158 caps, 6207 runs at 50.05, SR 86.93Root has barely featured in ODI cricket since the 2019 World Cup final•Getty ImagesA victim of England’s relentless schedule, Root has only batted a dozen times in ODIs since the 2019 World Cup final, averaging 35.10 without scoring a hundred. But he remains an automatic selection when available, offering the perfect foil for England’s more destructive players while playing a high-tempo, low-risk game himself. Two months at the IPL with Rajasthan Royals should provide ideal preparation, whether or not he plays regularly.4. Jos Buttler (capt/wk)ODI career: 165 caps, 4647 runs at 41.49, SR 117.97Buttler could benefit from a move up the order for England’s World Cup defence•AFP/Getty ImagesAnother automatic selection, as captain and wicketkeeper. Buttler has generally batted at No. 5 in ODIs over the last four years, but England must ensure he has sufficient opportunity to influence every game they play at the World Cup, particularly in the knockout stages: unless they lose two early wickets, he should shuffle up to No. 4 in India.5. Harry BrookODI career: 3 caps, 86 runs at 28.66, SR 98.85Until his recent ODI debut, Brook hadn’t played a 50-over match since 2019•Getty ImagesBrook’s 50-over record hardly demands inclusion but he will be impossible to ignore. The three ODIs he played in South Africa were his only List A games, at any level, since May 2019, but his technique and style hardly alter between four-day and T20 cricket; the middle format should be ideally suited to him. He has thrived on slow, low pitches in Pakistan, and he will inevitably learn from two months at the IPL as a marquee signing for Sunrisers Hyderabad.6. Liam LivingstoneODI career: 12 caps, 250 runs at 31.25, SR 122.54; 6 wickets at 24.16, ER 5.80Livingstone slammed 66 off 22 balls against Netherlands last summer•Getty ImagesThe highlight of Livingstone’s fledgling ODI career to date is a 22-ball cameo against the Netherlands, but his versatility with bat and ball makes him an invaluable squad member. He has sometimes struggled to pace his innings, but batting at No. 6 in a 50-over game – especially in the final 10 overs, with five men out of the ring – is not far removed from the No. 4 T20 role he perfected for Punjab Kings in last year’s IPL.7. Moeen AliODI career: 129 caps, 2212 runs at 25.13, SR 99.46; 99 wickets at 49.89, ER 5.28Moeen’s record looks less impressive than it can feel when he comes good in his specific roles•Getty ImagesMoeen’s value to England’s white-ball set-up is often underestimated due to his underwhelming overall record. His batting and bowling averages are, respectively, lower and higher than he would like, but reflect the challenges of those roles: attacking early in his innings from No. 7, and bowling defensive offbreaks with only four fielders outside the inner ring. Throw in his role as Buttler’s vice-captain, and Moeen is a certain starter in India.8. Sam CurranODI career: 23 caps, 318 runs at 24.46, SR 96.36; 26 wickets at 36.38, ER 5.86Curran has seized his chances in a variety of roles, particularly with the ball•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesCurran is difficult to leave out of an England white-ball team, whether 20 overs or 50. He has become increasingly adaptable, adept in the middle overs and at the death, and showed in the second ODI in Mirpur that he retains his potency when handed the new ball. Curran adds balance with his useful lower-order hitting, and should thrive in Indian conditions.9. Adil RashidODI career: 125 caps, 183 wickets at 32.20, ER 5.64Rashid remains England’s pre-eminent spinner despite the emergence of Rehan Ahmed•AP Photo/Aijaz RahiAfter a quiet 2022, Rashid was back at his best in Bangladesh, claiming eight cheap wickets to take home the Player of the Series award. Despite the emergence of Rehan Ahmed, there is no player whose absence England would feel more keenly in India; they must make sure to look after his troublesome shoulder throughout the summer.10. Jofra ArcherODI career: 21 caps, 42 wickets at 21.73, ER 4.80Archer was the decisive factor in England’s 2019 win, and he’ll be crucial to their title defence too•Getty ImagesArcher has taken 12 wickets in four ODIs since his comeback from injury, and has regularly breached the 90mph/145kph mark over the last two months. Careful management will be vital in 2023: he will lead Mumbai Indians’ attack at the IPL in Jasprit Bumrah’s likely absence, then could feature in the Ashes before the World Cup. England would love him to feature in both series, but need to ensure he has plenty in the tank when he arrives in India.11. Mark WoodODI career: 59 caps, 71 wickets at 37.88, ER 5.42Wood’s express pace will be vital on India’s wickets•Getty ImagesWood returned to England’s ODI set-up after a two-year absence in Bangladesh, and the sight of him charging in and slamming the ball into the pitch in Mirpur underlined his value to the side. As with Archer, Wood’s fitness record suggests he is unlikely to play every game across formats this summer; England need him in India more than they do in the Ashes, so his workload should be tailored accordingly.12. Jason RoyODI career: 116 caps, 4271 runs at 39.91, SR 105.53Roy is in a fallow run of form, but has produced centuries in each of England’s last two series•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesRoy looked like a busted flush in the 2022 summer when he endured a run of form so wretched that he lost his place in England’s T20 World Cup squad. But he has re-stated his worthy credentials with hundreds against South Africa and Bangladesh this year and it will take another lean summer for him to miss out altogether. However, if Roy is likely to start on the bench behind Malan, England may consider bringing a more versatile player – like Will Jacks or Phil Salt – as their spare batter.13. Chris WoakesODI career: 112 caps, 1386 runs at 24.75, SR 89.82; 160 wickets at 30.23, ER 5.45Woakes may not play every game but would be a reliable bench presence•Getty ImagesThere is a justifiable case that Woakes has been England’s most reliable white-ball cricketer over the last eight years, and he is a certainty for the World Cup squad if fully fit. England will have to rotate their seamers across six or seven weeks in India; even in the event Woakes does start on the bench, he will doubtless play a role at some stage.14. Olly StoneODI career: 8 caps, 8 wickets at 39.62, ER 5.98Stone’s impact in the middle overs has been reminiscent of Liam Plunkett’s former role•Getty ImagesAnother player with scant 50-over experience, Stone impressed in the middle-overs enforcer role in South Africa and provides a point of difference with his high pace. He has been around England’s squads across formats – and continents – this winter, and could form part of a varied pace-bowling arsenal in India.15. Reece TopleyODI career: 22 caps, 33 wickets at 27.03, ER 5.29Despite his injury issues, Topley’s impact in limited-overs has been immense in recent months•Getty ImagesTopley struggled in South Africa and was not selected in Bangladesh – reportedly due to a minor niggle – but was England’s most prolific ODI wicket-taker in the 2022 home summer. His upcoming stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore will double as a two-month apprenticeship for white-ball bowling in India.ESPNcricinfo LtdNotable absenteesIt has been widely assumed that Ben Stokes will reverse his ODI retirement as soon as Buttler and Matthew Mott come calling later this year, but his long-standing knee complaint complicates matters. If available, he will come straight back into the squad, but Stokes may view the start of the English winter as the ideal opportunity to sort his injury out for good, then use the 2024 IPL to get himself ready for the subsequent T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the US.Several batters remain in contention. Alex Hales could be floated in at the eleventh hour but has not played a 50-over match in four years; Phil Salt, Will Jacks and James Vince did little to further their cases in Bangladesh; Ben Duckett struggled in South Africa, but may find India’s pitches more suited to his methods; while Sam Billings has an impressive record but has still slipped down the pecking order since Mott’s appointment.Related

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Jacks’ versatility makes him the most likely player to provide another spin option – he could replace one of the spare seamers in the squad – while Rehan Ahmed and Liam Dawson are further alternatives. Matt Parkinson appears to have fallen out of contention altogether.David Willey, Brydon Carse and Saqib Mahmood are among the seamers who appear unlikely to form part of the squad at this stage despite recent ODI appearances, but could all mount strong cases over the next six months of short-form cricket.Verdict: Can England go back to back?England’s recent ODI form has been patchy, but reports of their demise in the format are exaggerated. Since lifting the World Cup at Lord’s in 2019, they have very rarely – if ever – fielded their full-strength side yet remain top of the ODI Super League, and have deep-seated trust in the squad that delivered the trophy four years ago.India will be favourites in October-November, looking to become the fourth successive host nation to win the 50-over World Cup, but England will not be too far behind. They are well-placed to achieve the minimum expectations of making it through the initial round-robin stage – at which point, they will suddenly be two wins away from defending their title.

They were given the chance to experiment with their team and they took it. Now the question is, will they give their new players time to find their way?

Danyal Rasool28-Mar-2023Almost seven years ago, Pakistan turned up in Manchester on a cool September night to cap off a miserable white-ball tour with a one-off T20I. The prospects for a relatively inexperienced Pakistani side looked bleak; they had just come off a wretched 2016 T20 World Cup campaign, while England’s incipient rise to the top of the white-ball game was picking up steam. The ODI series just prior hadn’t gone to plan for the visitors, brushed aside 4-1, including a humbling defeat that saw England post a then-world record 444 at Trent Bridge.Pakistan made a number of changes from that ill-fated T20 World Cup five months prior. Shahid Afridi was finally done away with, and Sarfaraz Ahmed was handed the captaincy. Mohammad Sami was phased out, and 22-year-old Hasan Ali made his debut. Mohammad Rizwan earned a recall after six months. Another slight, unassuming 21-year-old also made his T20I debut; Babar Azam would go on to hit the winning runs in a nine-wicket romp.Related

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That night sent Pakistan on a journey that allowed this game to assume great importance in hindsight. New captain Sarfaraz led the side to 11-straight T20I series wins. Rizwan went on to become one of the most consistent T20 openers in the world. Hasan took home the player-of-the-series award when Pakistan won the 2017 Champions Trophy nine months later. And Babar, well, you get the point.England on the other hand didn’t really care about the loss. Not as much as they did about the chance to test new players transitioning into a new system. One that resulted in the ODI World Cup win in 2019 and, further down the line, the T20 World Cup win in 2022. That old nine-wicket thumping in Manchester wasn’t a harbinger of anything inauspicious; nine of those who started that game would also start at least one of those World Cup finals.Pakistan lost the three-match series against Afghanistan by a 2-1 margin•Afghanistan cricketWhich brings us to Pakistan’s historic defeat at Afghanistan’s hands over the past week and why it might not be such a bad thing.Pakistan were right in giving their newfound PSL stars a go in international cricket. They have the time now, with the next T20 World Cup almost two years away, to supplement the talent they have with the experience they will need.Saim Ayub lit up the PSL. Mohammad Haris was the catalyst for a Pakistan revival at last year’s T20 World Cup. As opening batters, they are very different to Babar and Rizwan, but given the way T20 cricket is being played right now, it almost feels like they are the conventional choice rather than their more decorated, more conservative counterparts. Only, Ayub and Haris found themselves thrown in on surfaces that were much better suited to the accumulating instincts, as well as superior techniques, of Babar and Rizwan.The value of this series to Pakistan was never about bringing home that T20 trophy, ornate as it was. Shadab Khan, Babar’s deputy for some time now, had the opportunity to juggle his all-round role with the captaincy. He was allowed to make his mistakes while the stakes aren’t suffocatingly high. Things didn’t go perfectly to plan but it was important that Pakistan found out what life beyond Babar will look like. Shadab might never end up being a permanent captain for Pakistan, but there were few better occasions to see what he can do, something that he himself touched upon at the end of the series.”Unfortunately, we didn’t win the series,” Shadab said. “But the way our youngsters showed their talent was very exciting, and I’m confident they’ll end up becoming stars. The conditions were evidently totally different to the PSL, and young players can get nervous when they put on the green shirt for the first time. But what I liked was how quickly they adapted. After two difficult matches, they showed in the third their calibre and quality.”These conditions were new for them, and they should learn from it. Those who succeeded in this series and those who failed we might need to work on game awareness a little bit, about when to play what shot. But they’re young, and when you’re nervous, you make mistakes. But with their talent and attitude, they’ll pick up these things quickly.”Shadab Khan remained positive despite Pakistan’s loss•Afghanistan Cricket BoardImad Wasim and Abdullah Shafique found themselves back on the international stage, and only time will tell if they, or indeed Tayyab Tahir, end up being a part of Pakistan’s long-term plan. But the general discomfort at the idea of Pakistan selecting players who might not necessarily be part of their best squads speaks to a culture where rest, rotation and experimentation have never been allowed to take root.Since the start of 2021, until this series began, Pakistan had fielded 32 players in the T20I format. Only Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland, whose talent pools are infinitely shallower, fielded fewer. For starts per T20I played, only Ireland experiment less than Pakistan. The leaders, India, handed out nearly 50% more starts, with 45 different cricketers donning T20I caps in this period.But rotation can be as illuminating as it is rejuvenating, as Pakistan would have discovered after watching Ihsanullah and Zaman Khan this series. Knowing Pakistan’s penchant for knee-jerk volte-faces, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a full-strength T20I side gear up for the home series against New Zealand next month, even though the visitors will send in a significantly weakened squad. Should that happen, it is entirely likely that New Zealand will be the team that walks away having learned more about themselves, regardless of the series outcome.The roles from that night in Manchester have been completely reversed. It is Afghanistan who should view this series as their springboard to something special. Pakistan – just like England that night – need only move on.

Also, India’s poor partnership numbers and their issues with bowled and LBW dismissals

Sampath Bandarupalli02-Mar-2023272 Runs scored by India across their two innings in Indore. It is the joint-third lowest aggregate for India in a home Test when all out twice. India’s lowest aggregate is 212 against Australia in 2017 in Pune, followed by 247 in Chennai against England in 1977.8 for 64 Nathan Lyon’s bowling figures in India’s second innings, the second best for Australia in Tests against India, behind his 8 for 50 in Bengaluru during the 2017 tour. His Indore figures also puts him second best overall in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, behind his Bengaluru performance.113 Test wickets for Lyon against India. He is now the leading wicket-taker in Border-Gavaskar Trophy history, surpassing Anil Kumble’s tally of 111 wickets.Related

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53 Test wickets for Lyon in India, the second highest among visiting bowlers behind Derek Underwood’s 54. Lyon’s five five-wicket hauls in India are the joint most for a visiting bowler along with Richie Benaud.35 India’s highest partnership in this Test, between Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer for the fifth wicket in the second innings. Only twice have India had a smaller top partnership in a Test where they lost all 20 wickets: 20 runs against South Africa in Durban in 1997 and 31 against Australia in Brisbane in 1947.18 Wickets for Australia’s spinners in Indore, the joint most by them in a Test match in Asia. The Australian spinners also took 18 wickets against Sri Lanka during the last year’s Galle Test. It is the joint most for Australian spinners in a Test since they took 19 against England in Nottingham in 1934.12 Number of bowled or LBW dismissals for India in Indore, their their most in a Test since 13 such dismissals against England at Lord’s in 1959.76 The target set by India in Indore. The lowest target any team has failed to chase is 85 . The dubious distinction belongs to England against Australia in 1882, the game that gave rise to the Ashes.

England opener on her starring role in the Ashes, and the thoughts of retirement that preceded it

Andrew Miller27-Jul-2023It’s entirely coincidental but thoroughly apposite that, as Tammy Beaumont sits down to speak to the media in a pokey storeroom in the corner of a Tottenham community centre, she finds herself face to face with a life-size cut-out of a suffragette, complete with a “Votes for Women” banner.The figure is clearly a relic of a previous community project, but the message it relays remains a timeless one, as Beaumont reflects on a summer in which women’s cricket – after years of second-class status – took perhaps its biggest step yet towards true equality.The women’s Ashes just gone was a compelling series in its own right, and one in which Beaumont herself was one of England’s star turns, with a national-record 208 in the Test match at Trent Bridge and vital initiative-seizing runs in the subsequent ODIs.But perhaps more than that, the series felt for the first time as though it was part of something bigger. A genuinely joined-up campaign that dovetailed with the concurrent men’s Ashes and even provided a similarly thrilling narrative, with both England teams battling back from early defeats only to fall at the penultimate hurdle, agonisingly short of their goals.”That will go down as one of the best Ashes series in women’s cricket history, until probably the next one,” Beaumont says. “I’m not allowed to bet on cricket but, if I could, I would put a lot of money on the men winning at The Oval and it being a [2-2] draw. Morally, I think, we probably won the hearts and minds of cricket in this country. But unfortunately, the cabinet is still going to be empty for both of us.”The similarities between the two series did not end with the potential for shared scorelines, however. As with the men, the cricket played by England’s women was fearless and focused, with aggression in every facet of their play: from the pace of Lauren Filer in the Test match through to Nat Sciver-Brunt’s heroics in the ODIs, via Beaumont’s strokeplay too, most especially in the series-levelling win in Bristol where her 47 from 42 balls helped to bring up England’s 100 inside the first 13 overs and set up a record-breaking run-chase.But whereas the men’s desire to play to the gallery was arguably the root cause of their downfall in the Edgbaston and Lord’s Tests, the women’s determination to put on a show genuinely felt as important as their quest for a series win. A total of 110,000 fans attended the seven matches, four-and-a-half times as many as in 2019, with a further 5.3 million tuning in on Sky Sports. And the vast majority of these were drawn in by the team’s promise to “inspire and entertain”, as per the mantra that poured forth – almost without exception – in every media engagement.Beaumont at the launch of the KP community pitches initiative in Tottenham•Getty Images”Yes, we did keep saying it. But we do 100% mean it,” Beaumont says. “I think the men are trying to change the stereotype of a format [Test cricket], whereas we’ve got such a massive scope for growth, it’s actually almost easier to do that, and inspire and entertain. We’ve got such a margin, such a ceiling that we can just absolutely smash through.”I think Jon Lewis has got to take an awful lot of credit for that,” she adds, citing the influence of England’s head coach, who came on board for the tour of the Caribbean in December, having spent the 2022 summer soaking up the Bazball ethos as Brendon McCullum’s assistant in the men’s Test squad.”He has also said the words ‘inspire and entertain’ at every team meeting since he came in in the West Indies, but I think that’s what’s made this turnaround so quick. He’s come in with a very clear vision from the start. We want to play a brand of cricket that gets bums on seats and gets people interested in the game. Honestly, every single thing we do has been about taking the game forward, and putting the opposition under pressure.”As with the men’s resurrection under McCullum and Ben Stokes, a massive part of the women’s revival can be directly attributed to the sense of fun that they have projected. And that in itself is no mean feat, given how visibly joyless their endeavours had been in the preceding months and years. From the mental toll of Covid, to their arduous schlep round the Antipodes for back-to-back Ashes and World Cup campaigns in 2021-22, to the crushing disappointment of their fourth-place finish at the Commonwealth Games last summer, there was little levity to be found at any point.And when Beaumont herself was left out of that latter campaign – a place she has yet to regain in T20I cricket, amid the rise of England’s young thrusters such as Sophia Dunkley and Alice Capsey – even she started to question whether the struggle was worth it.

“We’re well aware of how much further the game can go, and I think we all connect on a level that means we are desperate to entertain and inspire the next generation, because we know what those people within my lifetime have had to go through”

“When I got back from the PSL, there was a point where I was like, ‘I don’t know if I really want to do this anymore’,” she says. “It’s hard work to go through the emotional highs and lows of it all. There was a period of time where I’d worked really hard physically in the indoor school, doing all sorts of running sessions in the snow at Lady Bay [the Blaze’s home ground in Nottingham] and not particularly enjoying it.”I genuinely thought about it. I thought, do I just become a Sky broadcaster? What’s the point if I’m not going to play for England, and if it’s going to just keep being repeated failures?”Our coach [at the Blaze] used to make us do these competitions, and there was one where you had to write a poem and it had to be better than your mate’s. And mine literally brought four people to tears, and one of them was an ex-England player. And it was basically, ‘do I give up now? Do I keep going? Do I ride the highs and lows? All I’ll do is give it some time’. All it had to be was 10 lines, and my worst GCSE was English so it wasn’t particularly useful. But it certainly had no structure.”Lewis, she adds, was instrumental in the turnaround of her fortunes. On the one hand, he encouraged her to expand her game beyond the anchor role that she’d ended up performing in the Lisa Keightley era – which she admitted she had found “quite boring, to be honest”. But on the other, he encouraged a more general reappraisal of what success looks like to the England women’s squad.”Lewey himself thinks it’s wrong but, often as parents, you bring your son up to be brave and courageous, but you bring your daughter up to be perfect. And he’s trying to get rid of that, and let us make mistakes,” she says.”As a player, it’s all well and good saying ‘it’s fine. It’s the way I play. It’s fine to make mistakes’, but then if the other four openers in the squad are not making mistakes, you’re not in [the side]. Elite athletes have all got perfectionist, obsessive tendencies. None of us are particularly normal, so that’s something you always have to battle with. But it certainly feels like it’s okay to make mistakes in a way that, if they had come off, it would have been worth it.”It was a theme that carried over into Beaumont’s pre-season endeavours with the Blaze too. “In March, they gave out this silly little award … be like Moana. Who has been brave and courageous in that game? And after the first game the SEC [strength and conditioning] coach gave it to me because she was like ‘the old girl thought of giving up a month ago, and now she’s playing this new brand of cricket. The old dog’s learned some new tricks or something!’ So I got the Moana doll.”And it all came together on the big stage for Beaumont this summer, most especially in the Ashes opener when her epic double-century – 208 from 331 balls all told – broke the previous best by an England women’s player, Betty Snowball’s 189 against New Zealand in 1934-35.Charlie Dean and Beaumont at the toss during the 2022 Hundred•ECB/Getty Images”I had no idea about the record,” Beaumont says. “When it got announced that I’d broken it, all I was thinking about was the 200. I literally shooed Sophie Ecclestone away and had to apologise later. It’s all about challenging yourself and trying to break boundaries, and showing that women’s cricket can do things that maybe people didn’t think of. But it’s not like I write down a list of records and then cross them off. That’s something my dad probably does.”With the Blaze based these days at Trent Bridge after the disbandment of Beaumont’s previous regional team, Loughborough Lightning, Beaumont says she had felt the buzz around the women’s Test long before she had become the centre of attention.”Every week, it was like ‘can you just bring your England cap in, we need to take a picture of it for our marketing thing’. And ‘you know, we’ve got the Ashes? I don’t know if you know, we’ve got the Ashes Test match.’ Of course, I know we’ve got the Ashes Test match!””But it really galvanised the entire team at Trent Bridge. I felt like, for them, it was their biggest game of the year, and that’s a pretty big ground in the country. Yet their excitement level was great to see, and it’s not necessarily something we’ve felt before as players.”The sense of responsibility that this generation feels, however, is plain to see – perhaps most particularly the senior members of the squad, including Beaumont and the captain Heather Knight, who have lived through the professionalisation of the women’s game, and recognise the importance of “taking the cap forward”.Related

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“Even since I was born, women cricketers had to pay for their England blazers,” Beaumont says. “I was born before women were let into Lord’s. I was part of the first group of professionally contracted players, but I still needed my parents to pay my rent, because that’s how little the contract was worth. I worked two days a week with [cricket charity] Chance to Shine as well, but I still had to be helped out by my family.”And now you see what’s going on with the Hundred, with the WPL, the WBBL … which is amazing, but we’re all still connected to that shared history. We’re well aware of how much further the game can go, and I think we all connect on a level that means we are desperate to entertain and inspire the next generation, because we know what those people within my lifetime have had to go through.”And next week, in Cardiff, Beaumont will get her another chance to live that mantra, when she leads out her Welsh Fire team against Manchester Originals in their opening match of this year’s Women’s Hundred. For all that it has divided opinion in the five years since it was first conceived by the ECB, Beaumont is adamant that this summer’s Ashes could not have been the success it proved to be, without the heightened profile that the new tournament had offered to the women’s game.”I think we’ve learned the lessons from the Hundred,” she says. “When the Hundred came along, that was the whole point, it was going to be men and women in the same stadium, on the same stage at the same time, the same day. And the ECB have learned the lessons from that, because it worked.”In terms of trying to drive equality and gender parity, there’s still a long way to go, but I don’t think we would have sold out an Ashes series two years ago. That’s pretty much down to the Hundred.”KP Snacks are funding 100 new community cricket pitches over the next three years. To find out more and search for a pitch visit: www.everyonein.co.uk/pitchfinder

Our correspondent also finds Barbenheimer parallels in cricket, and looks at what Tamim Iqbal can learn from Stuart Broad

Alan Gardner14-Aug-2023It’s the cross-cultural event of the northern summer. It’s a vibe, it’s a thing, it’s mainly about selling tickets. On the one hand, a big pink slice of neon smiles and feel-good frippery. On the other, classical cinematography, weighty themes and serious-looking men in old-fashioned clothes. We are, of course, talking about Barbenheimer and the ongoing attempts to create a world where Test cricket can happily coincide with T20.It’s not quite the same as watching both back-to-back in one sitting, but launching into a month of the Hundred the day after the conclusion of the one of the most box-office men’s Ashes of all time – not to mention a critically acclaimed women’s series – felt like a pretty similar move by the ECB. Although a BBC-accredited doofus with a microphone literally describing Maitlan Brown as “a little Barbie yourself” during the opening game was probably not the look they were after.No doubt the Ashes will be up for several awards when the academy sits down to take a view. Ben Stokes proclaimed afterwards that the series between England and Australia was “generally what Test cricket needed” – which must be good news for the likes of South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies, who barely have two cents to rub together, never mind two Tests. But then, like , what would the discussion around the format be without a heavy dose of nihilism?As for whether we will ever reach a point with T20 leagues where people say, “I’ve had Kenough” – well, it seems very much moot. The Hundred was dreamed up by the ECB to insulate English cricket from the biting winds sweeping through the game’s shifting global landscape, but while arguably doing more for feminism than , it already faces being cannibalised by the free marketeers investing heavily in Major League Cricket, Global T20 Canada and the like.Where does that leave us, the humble fan? Well, sit down and shut up because cricket’s version of – the bloated star vehicle that is the 50-over World Cup – is soon to be showing on all channels. Just don’t ask about getting tickets to see that one.

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Tell us you’re a byword for administrative incompetence without telling us you’re a byword for administrative incompetence – amirite, BCCI? Then again, if you’re in charge of organising a World Cup, more than a decade after your team last managed to win the tournament, then perhaps building in a little extra home advantage is to be expected. Touring teams will not only have to spend six weeks getting used to the conditions, the travel and the cultural differences – they’re also going to need a dedicated backroom staffer keeping an eye on the fixtures to make sure their next match hasn’t been brought forward a day and moved from Lucknow to Hyderabad at short notice.

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It’s okay, everyone. There’s no racism in cricket! Despite what you might have seen or heard from the recent ICEC report, the Azeem Rafiq scandal at Yorkshire, and public testimony from current and former players, everything is just fine and dandy in the English game, because Ian Botham says so. “I have never witnessed or been in the dressing room with any form of racism,” said Baron Botham of Ravensworth (formerly Sir Iron Bottom), to give him his full title. “You cannot generalise as that document does,” he said of the ICEC report, while offering a generalised summary of the whole thing as “nonsense”, most of which he hadn’t read anyway. But he’s friends with Sir Viv and once met Mandela, so we should probably just take his word for it.

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Stuart Broad was always a man who knew his mind and didn’t try to second-guess. Exhibit A: the celebrappeal, which was not so much asking the umpire’s opinion on a dismissal as allowing him time to catch up on the facts according to Stuart. So when he decided to call it a day, it was done – cue the farewell montages. Contrast with Tamim Iqbal, who has had a little trouble with the decision-making process recently. Last month, he announced his international retirement, only for it to be struck down by Bangladesh’s prime minister on review. Now he has made another bid for freedom by quitting the ODI captaincy. This one appears to have snuck through on umpire’s call, but Tamim could do worse than consult with Broad, the self-proclaimed “best in the world at DRS”, before making his next career move.

New Zealand and Pakistan face off in a five-match series which features Williamson’s return and Afridi’s captaincy debut in internationals

Alagappan Muthu11-Jan-2024New Zealand and Pakistan couldn’t have hoped for better preparation leading into the T20 World Cup less than six months from now. The losing finalists in 2021 and 2022 will be facing each other over a series of five matches, starting on Friday in Auckland, which will serve as fertile ground for implementing new strategies and/or seeing if maybe the old ones still work.

The hotshot

Pakistan have the most prolific opening partnership in T20 history. But they might not use it here. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have 2400 runs at the top of the order but their run-rate as a partnership is so paltry (7.92) they are ranked 37th out of the 43 contenders who have put up at least 500 runs together. So in comes Saim Ayub. He was among the top 10 run-getters in PSL 2023 and he got those runs at a strike rate of 165.53. Equally as compelling are his stats from the CPL last year, which he won with Guyana Amazon Warriors. In conditions where the World Cup will be taking place, Ayub scored 478 runs at a strike rate of 142.26. He has potential written all over him. Pakistan have already bet on him in nine international matches so far. Now it looks like they’re going all in.Related

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The veteran

Kane Williamson was one of the last all-format captains standing before he relinquished the role in Test cricket, which seemed odd considering that is his best format. But in another light, it makes perfect sense. He’s kept the reins in the two formats that offer him the chance of winning a World Cup and very few have ever come as close as he has to achieving that ultimate goal. Williamson somehow zipped through rehab for an ACL injury to turn up at the ODI World Cup last year. He says he is still managing the effects of that problem but will once again turn up for this series (barring the third ODI which he will miss for personal reasons) because he knows he needs matches and form under his belt. The New Zealand white-ball captain hasn’t played any T20s since March last year and no T20Is since November 2022. So there’s plenty riding on this series for him.Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have 2400 runs in T20Is at the top of the order•Associated Press

The X-factor

An X-factor player by definition can’t be a banker because their whole thing is taking big risks for big rewards. And yet, Pakistan had a guy who walked both sides of that line. Shadab Khan, for a fair old while, seemed like he could do anything. Lately though, he’s hit a bit of a rough patch and out injured as well, meaning Pakistan have a little leeway to try out another legspinner who has been doing rather well. Usama Mir will be joining the team on the back of a BBL campaign where he picked up five wickets at an economy rate of 6.64 and average of 22.6. He stood out in the PSL as well where the only spinner to take more wickets than he did was Rashid Khan.

The search

With Trent Boult fulfilling franchise commitments, New Zealand have spread the net far and wide to try and find fast bowlers who can lead their attack, both for right now and also looking ahead to the future. Matt Henry was excellent for them in the ODI World Cup and they seem to be hoping that he might replicate some of that form in T20Is too, even though he’s only played a total of 13 of them since his debut in 2014. Adam Milne is another of the new but actually old guys in the squad, hoping to make up for missing the last T20 World Cup with injury. Ben Sears (age 25, ave 22, economy 7.4) is a more long-term investment. New Zealand have another T20I series, against Australia starting February 21, to finalise their options at which point they may well have Boult available. His ILT20 season will end on or before February 17.

He’s playing his role to perfection in the World Cup and both team and country are loving it

Sidharth Monga05-Nov-20231:29

‘Ridiculous!’ – Anil Kumble marvels at Virat Kohli’s ODI numbers

The path Virat Kohli chose in Pune was a dangerous one. He possibly didn’t even choose that path but was led down it by KL Rahul. Not the path where he tried to hit sixes to get his 48th hundred even as India were running out of runs to chase. But the one where they started manipulating strike to get him there.India had plenty of overs and wickets in hand, so there was no risk of losing. Let’s also put aside the possible disrespect to the opposition – telling them you are beating them with plenty of time to spare – because there are arguments against that too. It was the attention he was drawing to himself. Telling the whole country, which hangs on to his every word and gesture – that he is so keen to get to No. 50 that he is willing to do something he has never done.Remember the 2014 T20 World Cup semi-final when MS Dhoni blocked the last ball of the 19th over so that Kohli, who had fashioned the chase, could hit the winning runs? Then you also probably remember Kohli’s reaction. He was baffled Dhoni would do something like that. If that man is now manipulating strike for a hundred – and he went on to do that in a much closer game than the one in Pune – he is telling the nation he wants to get this thing done with.Related

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Gill, Siraj lead big Indian splash at the top of ICC ODI rankings

Kohli vs Tendulkar: A comparison of their 49 ODI hundreds

'Gives the world a gift on his own birthday' – The world of cricket celebrates with Virat Kohli

Jadeja razes South Africa for 83 after Kohli scores 49th ODI ton

Remember what Sachin Tendulkar went through when he was stuck on 99? These are his words: “Wherever I went, the restaurant, room service, everyone was talking about the 100th hundred. Nobody talked about my 99 hundreds. It became mentally tough for me because nobody talked about my 99 hundreds.”Did Kohli really need that kind of attention in the middle of a World Cup? He perhaps had a split second to decide when he hit a ball into the deep against Bangladesh, and Rahul asked him to stay at his end and go on to get the hundred.Kohli made the decision, his team-mates backed him – in fact they revelled in it – and not for the first time, he didn’t worry about the optics and committed fully to his decision. There he is different to Tendulkar. Kohli’s conviction that what he does is right for the team is so absolute it can border on the self-righteous. And looking at his body of work, with good reason.Birthday boy Virat Kohli was the centre of attention at Eden Gardens and he did not disappoint•ICC via GettyKohli never second-guesses himself. If he does, he gets over it before he comes to work. Even though events some might view as inauspicious have happened twice: those narrow misses in Dharamsala and Mumbai. They tend to create a self-perpetuating cycle. The more you miss out on hundreds, the more the focus on them, the more it could affect you.Hang on. Who hurt this writer? 464 words of gloom when India is enjoying a big party along with one of its biggest icons. Kohli is the last person to be affected negatively by all this. Or narrow misses. And you need such people in a team because not everybody likes the spotlight. You need those who will revel in it. You need those who can handle the scrutiny that comes with the territory.We don’t know if Kohli has done anything specific in his personal time to shut out the noise, but he’s been full of joy at the nets and at the grounds. He’s been full of joy at the foot-volley games India play to warm up before training. After his team won before the net session at Eden Gardens, Kohli ended by kicking the ball onto Shubman Gill’s bum at close range. On a difficult practice pitch that was seaming and bouncing funny, Kohli looked in great touch. Nobody else batted in that net after Kohli. Fitness training, skills training, being mentally happy, he has not missed a step.On the field, Kohli has conducted crowds like an orchestra. Whenever the song “My Name is Lakhan” plays in the stands, he makes sure he does a little dance, sending fans into a frenzy. That’s his little thing. Direct communication. They have now started chanting, ” [Give Kohli a bowl].” Rahul Dravid is using Kohli’s “wrong-footed inswinging menace” to ward off questions about the lack of a sixth bowler.The beauty of it is, just like the regular festive season in India, the celebrations are not affecting business. In the form that Kohli is in, every innings is looking like a possible century. He has got his processes and preparations spot on. The team’s strategy needs him to play according to the conditions and situation while Rohit Sharma at the top and others in the middle order force the pace. Is there anyone better at doing that?It doesn’t matter how loud it gets, Virat Kohli doesn’t let the noise get to him•Associated PressKohli batting without the pressure of run-rate is dangerous for the opposition. Which is not to say he has been slow. His 543 runs at a strike rate of 88 have been scored according to the team’s plan for the conditions. The pitches on which India have played their eight league games have tended to slow down. The pitch in Kolkata became more difficult than some of the previous ones. Keshav Maharaj pitched outside leg, ripped the ball past Gill’s bat, and hit the top of off stump in the 11th over.Ravindra Jadeja, who later took five wickets, said the pitch had been more difficult to bat on in the afternoon. Not only was it turning, it was slow too. He gave Kohli and Shreyas Iyer all the credit for denying Maharaj any more wickets and still managing to score at a decent rate during their stand of 134 off 158 balls. Rohit of course set up the innings with 40 off 24 balls, but Kohli took it to its fruition, which has been his role in the side.Twelve years ago, Kohli carried his hero Tendulkar on his shoulders after India won the World Cup, and said it was only fitting they carried him after he had carried India for so long. With 58,000 people singing happy birthday for him, Kohli equalled Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries, a record that looked unbeatable 12 years ago.The party is not over. The crowds will follow him everywhere. They want both: the World Cup and Kohli’s 50th. It won’t bother Kohli. It won’t bother India. There is too much positivity and festivity around them, and with good reason.

Big overseas names in the spotlight once again as BPL begins on January 19 in Mirpur

Mohammad Isam18-Jan-2024

Can Comilla make it a hat-trick?

Four-time BPL champions Comilla Victorians once again look like overwhelming favourites after claiming the title in 2022 and 2023. Last year’s finalists Sylhet Strikers and Rangpur Riders are also among strong contenders this time with strengthened squads while the likes of Chattogram Challengers, Khulna Tigers and Fortune Barishal are also expected to pose a threat. New franchise Durdanto Dhaka will look to put up a challenge.Comilla base their strength on top overseas players, particularly Andre Russell, Moeen Ali and Sunil Narine who were part of Comilla’s previous two title runs. They have added Iftikhar Ahmed from Barishal and Towhid Hridoy from Sylhet, which adds to their middle-order strength. Litton Das and Mohammad Rizwan are top-order gems and can share wicketkeeping duties. They have Rashid Khan on their roster although his participation is subject to fitness. Mustafizur Rahman remains a key part of the attack, with Zaman Khan and Naseem Shah as the overseas bowling firepower.

Who are the big names in other teams?

Shakib Al Hasan is Rangpur’s main enforcer, with Babar Azam, Nicholas Pooran, Brandon King and Wanindu Hasaranga among their big names. Azmatullah Omarzai and Matheesha Pathirana are also part of their set-up, while local boys Nurul Hasan, Mahedi Hasan, Hasan Mahmud and Rony Talukdar have done well in the recent past.Mashrafe Mortaza will captain Sylhet, and Najmul Hossain Shanto and Yasir Ali are the big-name batters among the Bangladesh players. Harry Tector, Ben Cutting and Ryan Burl will add to their firepower, while Tanzim Hasan, Richard Ngarava and Nazmul Islam are part of their bowling group. Sylhet will rue missing out on Towhid Hridoy who has now moved to Comilla.The senior trio of Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah and captain Mushfiqur Rahim will bolster Barishal, who also have Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Paul Stirling and Fakhar Zaman in their squad. With Mohammad Amir and Dunith Wellalage also part of their bowling attack, Barishal can be a tough proposition for the better teams in BPL.Shai Hope, Dasun Shanaka and Evin Lewis are some of the leading players for Khulna. Faheem Ashraf should be able to do a job as an allrounder until he has to join his PSL franchise in mid-February.Chattogram have Curtis Campher and Oman’s Bilal Khan in their squad, alongside Mohammad Haris, Najibullah Zadran and Stephen Eskinazi as their batting mainstays.Newcomers Durdanto Dhaka have also opted for a young side. With Mosaddek Hossain as captain, they also have Saim Ayub, Mohammad Naim and Saif Hassan as their top-order batters while Taskin Ahmed and the in-form Shoriful Islam form the core of their bowling unit. Sadeera Samarawickrama is also in their squad, although his availability depends on him getting an NOC from SLC.Andre Russell is among the big international names at the BPL•BCB

Locals away from centre-stage

BPL has long relied on foreign acquisitions, with overseas players handed important roles in the teams. As a result, the local players are hardly in the spotlight.Defending champions Comilla have brought in Towhid Hridoy but the presence of Mohammad Rizwan, Johnson Charles and Iftikhar Ahmed makes it harder for the locals to take on central roles. Sylhet and Barishal have a few big Bangladesh names that can take the batting responsibility but teams like Chattogram have only a couple of local batters of future promise.

The big five turn up again

The tenth edition of the BPL is another occasion for Bangladesh’s five superstars – Shakib, Tamim, Mashrafe, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur – to entertain the home crowds.Shakib, who will play for Rangpur, remains the kingpin. He is still one of the leading names in the T20 circuit. Tamim has teamed up with Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur at Fortune Barishal. Tamim had earlier said he would wait till January 2024 to decide his future in international cricket. Mahmudullah will be eyeing a T20I comeback after his ODI resurrection in the World Cup last year. Mortaza, who will lead Sylhet Strikers, will be looking to work through his injury struggles.

How big is the BPL, really?

The BPL loses out on big stars and stature due to the presence of other T20 leagues during the same window. The BPL starts from January 19 and goes on till March 1 but tournaments like the SA20 and ILT20 are also running in parallel. The PSL too has a two-week clash with the BPL. Several Pakistan players are part of the BPL and won’t be available during the business end of the competition – the qualifiers and final.