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Through patience and tactful strike rotation, Tom Latham and Kane Williamson ensured New Zealand built a solid platform to challenge India’s might on a slow turner

Sidharth Monga in Kanpur23-Sep-2016On a day India managed to get just one wicket in 47 overs despite having a more threatening attack than New Zealand’s and on a more difficult pitch than the one they batted on, a glaring statistic stood out: R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja bowled just two maidens between them.More importantly, though, the most continuous deliveries that Ashwin got at one batsman was six. Jadeja managed to keep one batsman on strike for longer, but not with telling effect. He had Martin Guptill facing for nine straight deliveries, but was hit for two boundaries. That meant no pressure was built. He then had Kane Williamson on for nine straight deliveries, but this time Williamson managed to avoid pressure with a couple.It was the next string of 12 deliveries that Jadeja bowled in a row at Williamson that resulted in two close calls. This was around the tea interval where India felt New Zealand began to slow the game down. The crux, though, is that in the unbeaten 117-run partnership between Tom Latham and Williamson – their sixth century stand in just 24 innings together – the right-left duo didn’t let the Indian bowlers bowl at them for long periods of time.It was down to India’s in-and-out fields as well as the enterprise of Latham and Williamson. Teams nowadays, especially on turning tracks, prefer to operate with in-and-out fields, knowing the batsmen are not patient enough to keep picking singles. Then there’s the knowledge that modern bats are good enough to send half-hits over the infield. Williamson and Latham, though, showed the patience and skill to keep picking those singles and turning the strike over. Every time they did so, the bowlers had to change their angle and their plans.”That is one of the keys,” New Zealand batting coach Craig McMillan said. “You don’t allow Ashwin or Jadeja to bowl 12 or 15 balls at one person. You have to find a way a way to get down the other end and both those guys did that really nicely today.”Their discipline [stood out], they stuck to their game plans and when the Indian bowlers missed, we jumped all over it. I thought the way they rotated the strike with that left- and right-hand combination throughout the partnership was crucial. They just worked really hard, and showed how hard it is out there. This surface is still playing pretty well, but there is a few balls taking off and turning. All in all the self-discipline from both those guys throughout the partnership was crucial.”With the pitch deteriorating significantly from the opening day, but the turn being slow, there was a likelihood of them getting beaten often but equally there were chances of edges not carrying, especially with Williamson’s soft hands. It will be crucial to not let these extraordinary deliveries affect you as long as they don’t dismiss you.”That’s part of playing in India,” McMillan said. “We are confronted with two very good spinners who know the conditions well and are going to challenge you at different times. Mental [focus] plays a big part, not getting flustered, being comfortable in those conditions and being comfortable with the ball beating the outside edge and not letting that worry you. Both guys soaked that up really nicely throughout that partnership and whenever they got a scoring opportunity they made the most of it.”One of the basics of playing spin well is to pick the length early, something McMillan thought both Latham and Williamson did well. “We’ve done a lot of work in terms of using the feet and getting deep in the crease, they’re all key things to playing spin well,” he said. “You watch the best players of spin around the world and they don’t get caught on the crease. They are either forward or back.”All our guys have done a lot of work on that, and everyone does it differently. Everyone’s technique is different, and it is important you don’t just try and play the same way. You have to use what works for you, and we’ve done that really well. Both players today used the depth of the crease really well. The key to that is picking up the length early. If you do that you can go forward or back.”As India batting coach Sanjay Bangar pointed out, New Zealand were in similar position to that of India before they collapsed: 150-plus for 1. This is a pitch where one can bring many. Also New Zealand might have to bat last on this pitch unless they can show similar skill till they reach 500. McMillan knows there is a lot of hard work to do still, and with the bat that has to be done in the first innings.”There is a lot of cricket to be played,” McMillan said. “It is the end of day two, and we are only halfway to what India scored in their first innings. We still have a lot of cricket and batting to do before we even start looking at what will happen on day four and five.”

Forcing Sri Lanka to strain every sinew on a slow pitch with little help for either seam or spin, Zimbabwe came agonisingly close to a draw in their 100th Test match

Tristan Holme in Harare02-Nov-2016When John Hampshire was appointed coach of Zimbabwe in the lead-up to their first Test match in 1992, the Yorkshireman was quick to lay out the extent of their ambitions. The batsmen were taught how to leave, and the bowlers instructed to bowl a foot outside off stump. When Zimbabwe crossed 400 in their first innings against India, taking nearly two days to do so, a player had the temerity to suggest that they might declare. Hampshire’s spiky response made it clear that they would be doing nothing of the sort. Zimbabwe drew the match, and viewed it like a victory.Forever the underdog (aside from the years of Bangladesh’s Test infancy), Zimbabwe’s ambitions have rarely risen since. The country’s pitches are the very definition of ‘nondescript’, boasting little pace, average bounce, no real turn to speak of. Little wonder then that, asked how difficult it had been to take 10 wickets on the final day to beat Zimbabwe in their 100th Test, Rangana Herath’s eyes became wide as the air escaped from his mouth.In truth it shouldn’t have even been close. With Tino Mawoyo and Brian Chari seeing off the first hour of the day, Mawoyo and Hamilton Masakadza taking care of the second, and lots of batting to come, Zimbabwe should have notched up the 27th draw in their history, leaving everyone to debate Herath’s decision not to declare earlier. “You cannot plan for whether it’s raining or not,” was how he saw it. “We had a plan with the coaches to declare before the end of the [fourth] day but we couldn’t do that because of the rain. You can’t rely on the weather, so you have to keep on playing as it is.”When Mawoyo got a rough decision from umpire Simon Fry, given out lbw to a delivery from Dilruwan Perera that was comfortably missing his leg stump, Zimbabwe embarked on their standard collapse and questions around Herath’s decision-making receded. “We were really happy with the start we had, but then when we started to lose a few wickets we panicked,” said Graeme Cremer.Yet over the next 45 minutes, the air of inevitability around Zimbabwe’s defeat dissipated. Sean Williams and Peter Moor dug in, and Herath found himself being tested in his first Test as captain. Unlike fifth-day pitches back home, he could not wheel away from one end all day knowing that he could do the job all on his own. Nor could he post three slips and a gully and back his quicks to wrap it up. Field placements were changed, bowlers were rotated.Eventually it was Lahiru Kumara who showed why he had been picked at the age of 19, with just two first-class matches under his belt. Kumara endured a tough introduction to Test cricket on day two, when he registered a first-ball duck with the bat, started his bowling with five wides down the leg side and was taken off after two overs.Over the next three days, on a slow pitch with no lateral movement, his pace proved its worth. In the first innings he had separated a 132-run stand when, bowling in the heat of the day, he sent down a bouncer that Moor could only fend to slip. Now, with the sun at its hottest once again, he rattled Moor with a series of short deliveries before trapping him lbw, jumping on the crease.”For me he’s an interesting character,” Herath said of Kumara. “He’s quick and I’m sure he’s a good prospect for Sri Lankan cricket. I tell you a lot of credit goes to the fast bowlers. There was not much assistance for the spinners and the Zimbabweans batted well. But the fast bowlers played their heart out and gave 100%, which is the main thing.”That was the back of Zimbabwe’s innings broken, but Sri Lanka still had to contend with Cremer. And Williams was in belligerent mood, blocking out delivery after delivery, then reverse-sweeping the spinners for four when he wanted to silence the fielders around the bat. Asela Gunaratne’s inclusion at the expense of another spinner began to look questionable, given the friendly nature of his medium-pace.Before tea, Herath changed ends. During the interval, clouds welled up in the south, as they had prior to the fourth evening being lost to rain. The light faded. But fourth ball after the break, Williams edged to slip. When Herath trapped Donald Tiripano lbw soon after, it looked like Herath was just doing what Herath does on the final day of Test matches: bowl his side to victory. Sri Lanka didn’t care that Tiripano had edged it, giving them a sixth dubious decision – and 10 lbws in a game where not one had gone against them. “It’s just one of those things that happens in cricket,” Herath said.The clouds moved off, and the sun came out. Carl Mumba started blocking. At the other end Cremer looked immovable. Herath switched ends. He then took the second new ball and switched ends again. The overs ticked down. 15, 14, 13, 12. Zimbabwe, through their captain Cremer, were on their way to their objective. Herath switched ends. Then something unbelievable happened. For the first time in over seven hours at the crease, Cremer lost his head.Out of nowhere, with Zimbabwe less than 10 overs from drawing, he leaped down the pitch, missed one from Herath, and was stumped. Having cheered every dot ball wildly, the small crowd went quiet. “I blame myself for losing this game,” said the Man of the Match. “If I was there then at least if Carl [Mumba] or Chris [Mpofu] had got out then I would have felt a lot better about myself, but I think my wicket was the turning point in us losing this game.”It wasn’t quite over yet. Mpofu, one of Test cricket’s worst No. 11s, saw off the over from Herath. Then Mumba took care of two more. Seven overs to go. On the balcony, Heath Streak was in the same seat he’d occupied all day. “Even with No. 10 and 11 out there we still thought, ‘Shee, we’ve still got a chance here,'” reflected Cremer.Dilruwan returned. Mpofu fended one to midwicket, then dabbed another square on the leg side. The crowd cheered. 7.4 overs left. But Dilruwan flighted the next one, Mpofu pushed forward, and the ball took off stump. A young Sri Lankan side had passed their first test. Zimbabwe had lost their 100th, but rediscovered some of their moral fibre. Test cricket felt alive in Zimbabwe once again, and so did the spirit of Hampshire.

Plays of the day from the second ODI between West Indies and England in Antigua

George Dobell in Antigua05-Mar-2017The milestone
When Steven Finn dismissed Kieran Powell via a top-edged pull that ballooned back to the bowler it made him the tenth England bowler to claim 100 ODI wickets. He became the third-fastest, too, in terms of games played, behind Stuart Broad and Darren Gough, who both reached the milestone in 62 ODIs. This was Finn’s 67th ODI, which means it took him the same amount of games as Joel Garner (the record is held by Mitchell Starc, who only took 52). Only Andrew Flintoff has a better strike rate of England bowlers to have achieved the record. All of which renders his absence from the side – before this series, Finn had not played ODI cricket since September 2015 – all the more puzzling.The drop
Ben Stokes has a well-deserved reputation as one of England’s best fielders. So it was a major surprise when he was unable to cling on to what appeared to be a relatively simple chance at midwicket offered when Kraigg Brathwaite, on 41, mistimed a pull off Finn. Perhaps Stokes lost track of the ball in the sun, or perhaps he was deceived by the strong wind blowing across the ground but, instead of taking the ball cleanly, he sustained a blow on the second finger of his right hand which obliged him to leave the field for treatment. While that briefly raised the possibility that it could be ‘the most expensive drop in history’ – in financial terms, bearing in mind his IPL deal, rather than runs conceded as a consequence (Brathwaite for out for 42 in the next over) – Stokes soon returned to the field and was able to resume bowling.The review
Jason Roy is increasingly looking like the most dangerous batsman in this side. So when Jason Holder saw his strong appeal for a caught-behind dismissal turned down by umpire Nigel Duguid (on his ODI debut) before Roy had scored, it was understandable that he should utilise West Indies’ review. Without Ultra Edge, though, West Indies were asking the TV umpire, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, to overrule on limited evidence. And while replays showed what might have been some deviation – the angle of the seam of the ball appeared to change a little – and the stump microphone picked up a noise that could have been the edge and could have been a stud on the pitch, there was nothing definitive that convinced him to change the decision. It is understood that Ultra Edge technology would have cost around USD10,000 for the series but the WICB and host broadcaster, who between them would have had to pay for it, went for the budget option as the ICC does not, at present, demand the standardisation of DRS protocols. Roy went on to score a rapid half-century that took England a long way towards victory.The edge
Having seen Sam Billings taken in the slips from the second ball of the innings, Shannon Gabriel found the edge of Joe Root’s bat just three deliveries later. This time, though, with Powell standing barely two yards inside the 30-yard fielding circle and the slow pitch sucking the pace out of the delivery, the ball dropped just short of the fielder. Root, scoreless at the time, went on to make 90 not out – easily the highest score of the match – and help England to a four-wicket victory.The injury
For the second game in succession, Gabriel’s first spell troubled the England batsman with its pace and control. But when he was forced off the pitch with a side strain after just three overs, it left Holder with a huge problem. His spinners bowled splendidly but Carlos Brathwaite struggled to sustain the pressure and, when he was recalled with 58 required from 13 overs, he conceded 10 from his first over back. With part-time offspinner Kraigg Brathwaite bowling at the over end, Gabriel’s absence made life considerably more comfortable for England than might have been the case.

It takes more than one good bowling spell to dismiss opposition for less than 100 in a T20, and our list finds out the lowest IPL totals ever

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-201710. 83 all out in 17.3 overs, Delhi Daredevils v Chennai Super Kings, IPL 2013Result: Lost by 86 runsDaredevils had got off to a disastrous start to their season with five defeats from their first five games, and Super Kings themselves were coming off a shock defeat to Pune Warriors in their previous fixture. After Michael Hussey and MS Dhoni took them to a “competitive” 169, as Daredevils captain Mahela Jayawardene had predicted at the toss, Mohit Sharma ran through the Daredevils top-order, before the spinners sewed up the win to consign their opponents to their sixth successive defeat.9. 82 all out in 15.1 overs, Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2008Result : Lost by 140 runsWhile the first-ever IPL game is now remembered for Brendon McCullum’s unbeaten 158, Knight Riders’ bowlers ensured they set a few records of their own, while getting the job done. The Royal Challengers top order, referred to in the tournament’s build-up as a Test match batting order playing in a T20 tournament, was quickly reduced to 24 for 4 by Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma and Ajit Agarkar. Captain Sourav Ganguly then polished off the lower order to inflict a 140-run defeat, which remains the second-highest in the tournament’s history.8. 82 all out in 18.3 overs, Deccan Chargers v Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2010Result : Lost by 9 wicketsA year after their defeat in the IPL final, Royal Challengers partly made up for it by inflicting a humiliating defeat on Adam Gilchrist’s Chargers in the third place play-off. Having lost the toss, captain Anil Kumble opened the bowling, dismissing Gilchrist off the fourth ball, ending his poor season with the bat. He then came back to pick up three more wickets across two further spells, as Chargers never ended up recovering from those early blows. Royal Challengers qualified for that season’s Champions League T20 as a result.7. 81 all out in 15.2 overs, Rajasthan Royals v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2011Result : Lost by 8 wicketsIt was a night when L Balaji rolled back the years, bowling jaffas which brought back memories of Pakistan tour. Returning from a career-threatening back injury, he took out Shane Watson, Ajinkya Rahane and Ashok Menaria. In partnership with Brett Lee and Shakib al Hasan, his spell skittled out Royals for 81, a total Knight Riders’ new-look top order found all too easy to chase down.Delhi Daredevils crumbled to 80 all out against Sunrisers in 2013•BCCI6. 80 all out in 19.1 overs, Delhi Daredevils v Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2013Result : Lost by 6 wicketsSunrisers had won all their five games before this fixture, and came up against a side on life support after a string of defeats. A top-order featuring Virender Sehwag, Mahela Jayawardene and David Warner got blown away by their in-form bowling attack, as Dale Steyn and co. went about knocking wickets off every few balls. By the time Daredevils recovered from early wickets, it was too late in the day, and a late-innings rearguard never came to pass.5. 79 all out in 15.2 overs, Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians, IPL 2013Result : Lost by 60 runsOf the IPL’s 50 lowest totals, Super Kings have been the bowling side 8 times, and on the receiving end just twice. In other words, they are a side that did not collapse too often throughout their time in the tournament. On this occasion though, it was that man Mitchell Johnson picking up three wickets in an over, after having three successive chances dropped by Kieron Pollard fielding at point. Every other ball in his opening burst deserved a wicket, and by the end of it, Super Kings had sunk to a point of no return.4. 74 all out in 16.3 overs, Kochi Tuskers Kerala v Deccan Chargers, IPL 2011Result : Lost by 55 runsSeven Kochi batsmen were dismissed for a duck, and if not for Thisara Perera and Ravindra Jadeja stitching together a stand of some note, things would have further embarrassing for the home side. Ishant Sharma bowled what is arguably his best IPL spell, and in Dale Steyn’s company, produced combined figures that read 6.3-1-28-8. A tight chase of 130 was rendered match-winning by a massive margin.3. 70 all out in 15 overs, Royal Challengers Bangalore v Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2014Result : Lost by 8 wicketsAfter losing a toss where he said he would also have chosen to bat first, Virat Kohli and his side were reduced to 5 for 4 within the first 14 balls of their innings. Missing Chris Gayle, four of Royal Challengers’ batsmen were dismissed for a duck, apart from four others who could not get to double figures. Eventually, it was a wonder they crossed the IPL’s lowest total, thanks to Mitchell Starc and Ravi Rampaul putting together a mini-rearguard of sorts towards the end.In the second game of IPL 2009 between these two, it was Kumble who had the last laugh, and then some•Aijaz Rahi/Associated Press2. 67 all out in 15.2 overs, Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians, IPL 2008Result : Lost by 8 wicketsOn a seamer-friendly track at the Wankhede stadium, none of the Knight Riders batsmen could put up a front against Shaun Pollock’s outstanding spell of seam-bowling. Mumbai then went about setting a record for the biggest T20 win in terms of balls to spare, a feat eclipsed only twice since.1.58 all out in 15.1 overs, Rajasthan Royals v Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2009Result : Lost by 75 runsOn a slow Cape Town wicket, Anil Kumble sparked a lower order collapse, as Royals lost their last 5 wickets for 11 runs. Each one of them fell to Kumble, who recorded his only five-wicket haul in T20s with his famed mix of flighted leg-spinners and the odd flatter one that hurried batsmen for time.

Twitter reactions to Kuldeep Yadav’s memorable first day in Test cricket, on which he took 4 for 68

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Mar-2017In a series filled with surprises, India sprang another one in Dharmasala by handing a debut to left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav. His former state team-mate Mohammad Kaif had no doubt it was the right move.

Prediction – Kuldeep Yadav will have a great debut. Aussies should struggle to read him. Best wishes to Team India.#IndvAus

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) March 25, 2017

After Australia raced to 131 for 1 at lunch, another expert Aakash Chopra placed his faith in Kuldeep.

Kuldeep is my Man for this innings…hope he starts after lunch and gets an extended spell. #IndvsAus

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 25, 2017

Kuldeep responded in the second session with some ripping deliveries that earned him praise from some of the greats of the game. First he dismissed David Warner to end a rapid century stand with Smith, then he got one to drift away before spinning in to have Peter Handscomb bowled and followed that up with a perfect wrong ‘un to send back Glenn Maxwell.

I am impressed with @imkuldeep18's variations and the way he has started. Keep going strong, this can be your match to shine.

— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 25, 2017

This has been a magnificent spell of bowling from the young man Kuldeep

— Michael Clarke (@MClarke23) March 25, 2017

The uncommon sight of a left-arm wrist spinner showcasing control and an array of variations had many excited.

New mystery guy in the house @imkuldeep18 #Magical. On the other hand brilliant hundred from smith.

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) March 25, 2017

Wonderful beginnings for a debutant.. 2 very good wickets &the way he has bowled.. Way to go.. God bless #KuldeepYadav

— Kartik Murali (@kartikmurali) March 25, 2017

This is a fairy-tale debut for Kuldeep Yadav. Always something extra with the wrist spinner. And he can bat!

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 25, 2017

Superb spell by @imkuldeep18 , emphasises the importance of a wrist spinner on batting tracks. Brilliant

— Deep Dasgupta (@DeepDasgupta7) March 25, 2017

This was not a drill. England needed two runs to win with the No. 10 on strike, in a contest that they could and should have controlled from the outset

Jarrod Kimber at Bristol18-Jul-2017England has a team song – a victory ballad – and part of their inspiration during this tournament has been the desire to sing this secret ditty when they win at Lord’s. These are the kinds of made-up team rituals that keep teams together on hard days. But this was not supposed to be tough; this was supposed to be the easy semi-final.England are clearly a better team than South Africa. For all the incredible improvement that South Africa have made, there is still a fragility to their batting order: they still have a far lower cling when it comes to their top order and they always run themselves out. Batting first against England, they have never scored more than 222, and even when they made over 300 in their group match against England earlier this tournament, they still lost by over 70 runs.There might be a time in the future when South Africa can be a legitimate and constant threat to England, but it wasn’t meant to be now, not today. England planned on approaching this like a tough training challenge, and expected to win easily.*** Jenny Gunn comes out to bat with England needing 46 off 46 balls, but she brings out a different pitch to everyone else. Her English team-mates have been playing on a slow pitch that means you hit the ball into the hands of a fielder in the ring. Gunn manages to find gaps, she is constantly on the move, she scores more twos than had seemingly been scored all match, and when she needs to find the boundary, she can do that as well. She is batting at more than a run a ball, which in a game like this, is some kind of magic.And now, in the final over of the contest, she needs only three more runs to win the game and send her team to Lord’s for the final. Shabnim Ismail steams in, the self-proclaimed quickest woman in the world, she aims full and straight, so Gunn just smashes it. The noise is so obvious, the ball has been crushed, but it has been hit straight back at Ismail.There is no time even to think about the catch, even to wonder what if. It is already on the ground, dribbling away from South Africa. Gunn is still there, just.***South Africa’s real big chance of winning this game came when Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt embarked on what they hoped would be their third 100-run partnership of the tournament. Lee had been hitting sixes for fun all tournament – seven alone in the victory over India – while the TeenWolv has been dismissed for less than fifty once in the entire campaign. But Lee was out before they could get off to a flier, and Wolvaardt was slowed down by spin, scoring only nine from her first 30 balls from it. England won both the early battles.England don’t push hard for wickets in the middle overs, and they didn’t today. It was only when Wolvaardt missed a fairly standard straight one that they picked up a wicket. In the same over Mignon du Preez hit the ball straight to cover and Marizanne Kapp was run out. Ten overs later, they lost another wicket to another silly run-out, and doubled up by losing another wicket the next over. It’s not hard to restrict the opposition when they so frequently run themselves out.South Africa were, at best, 30 runs short, and probably 50 short. With a good opening partnership, and Nos. 3 and 4 being sensible, the match would be won with overs to spare. Easy.***It’s come down to England needing three off five; it should still happen. Ismail goes wide of the stumps, she takes the pace off it, all Gunn can do is aim it into the packed offside field, which has seemly every woman born in South Africa trying to save the one. Dane Van Niekerk attempts to stop the single, but she can’t.And now England need two runs off four balls, but Jenny Gunn is off strike.Sarah Taylor and Heather Knight celebrate victory on the England balcony•ICCEngland started well; they scored quickly. South Africa dropped catches and bowled wides. There was no real pressure. The pitch might have been slightly trickier than anyone had yet admitted, but this was not a tough chase, England were ahead the rate and, at the end of the first ten overs, they had cruised along to 52. Sarah Taylor’s first ball was a cover drive off Ayabonga Khaka, which went away to the rope like it was being dragged there by magnets.Taylor was in complete control; she was batting like the woman who was once supposed to take over women’s cricket. The runs came off her bat with some indefinable extra authority, as if every run was saying, ‘not only am I scoring, but I am fundamentally better than you in every way that matters’. Her innings felt like a sparring match between a world-class heavyweight and a punch-by-the-hour battler brought in to make the champ feel better.The last shot she played was a flick past mid-on that seemed almost obscenely easy. She didn’t play another shot after that because Heather Knight ran her out.The wicket shouldn’t have meant much, Knight was still in, there was plenty of batting to come, and it was only the third wicket of the innings. But suddenly Knight was out as well, and the easy day, the better team, none of that meant much any more. This was now a sudden-death game, and England had never been closer to death.***Laura Marsh has a top score of 67 in ODIs; this matters as she faces up to Ismail with two runs needed off four balls. Her career average of 13 has never looked so shaky. England back themselves to bat all the way down, but teams always say that. No one really means it, and those words mean nothing when you need two off four against one of the best bowlers in the world.Ismail’s ball is full and straight. Marsh, her top score of 67, and her average of 13, are nowhere near it. Her shot is an awkward shuffling paddle that she might as well have played in Taunton and not Bristol; she’d been about as close to the ball as she was to the town. Ismail lets out a scream as the ball hits the stumps. This is not a drill, England have won six on the trot coming into the game, kept the world’s sixth-ranked side to a sub-par score, and are now three good balls from not making the final. This is not a drill.***Katherine Brunt has been begging to bat up the order for years, and this was the sort of situation that she loves the most. When it’s tough, when it’s tense, when every run is like a spit in the eye of your opposition, the contest could not be better set up for her. In having a player of such experience and talent in their middle order, England has a huge advantage over the other teams. But not this time. Nothing was working for her today.Brunt bats up the order in T20 games, but in making two runs from eight deliveries – and 12 from 27 all told – she was looking less like a T20 hitter and more like an ODI misser. To make up for her struggles she charged down the pitch to Daniels, and instead of toughing out a boundary, or breaking the game with her aggression, she was bowled.It was left to Fran Wilson to play balls over her head and reverse-sweep the spinners out of the attack while marshalling the specialist bowlers. But Wilson tried one scoop too many – England were all out of specialist batting, and almost all out of the tournament.Heather Knight and Danielle Hazell toast their victory•ICCAnya Shrubsole takes an age to make it to the middle. There is no doubt she wasn’t planning on batting. She wasn’t planning on batting when they restricted South Africa to 218, she wasn’t planning on batting when they got off to a flier, and there was no way she was thinking she’d bat when Taylor and Knight were strolling to victory.England only need two runs, but this has been anything but a perfect performance. They didn’t push hard enough with the ball in the middle overs; they gave away too many runs in the field; none of their top order went on to complete the job; they had another stupid run-out, and then their middle order got behind the rate and panicked. Even now, with Shrubsole coming out, it’s hard not to think that England might rue Gunn’s single off the second ball of this over. The best chance of winning the game is stranded at the non-striker’s end on a run-a-ball 27 not out.Shrubsole crouches over her bat, looking anything but a player who is about to hit the winning runs. Ismail hits the crease and Shrubsole suddenly relaxes, takes two steps down the wicket, and hits the ball through point in a flash. It’s incredible, beautiful, strong. The South Africa women fall to the ground and cry, Shrubsole jumps onto Gunn.”We’re finding ways to win” says Knight, England’s captain. For most of the day, it looked like they were finding ways to lose. England weren’t planning on it being this close; they weren’t planning on almost losing, this wasn’t a training match, a bye, or a perfect performance. It was a win off the third-last ball, from the No.10.England didn’t win easily. But they won. If they get to sing in the holy dressing-room of Lord’s, today will be the tough one they laugh about as they belt out their victorious anthem. There is only one more win between them and the sweet drunken merry sound of success.

Adelaide under lights looms not only as a historic moment in the saga of Australia-England encounters, but also a shift in the balance of home and away that has prevailed over the previous two series

Daniel Brettig27-Oct-2017A pink ball and a grassy pitch might just have built Jerusalem on Adelaide’s green and pleasant oval. On a day when Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins returned to the Sheffield Shield by way of Ashes preparation, it was the lower velocity offerings of Trent Copeland, Chadd Sayers and Daniel Worrall that opened up a fascinating poser for Australia ahead of England’s arrival to defend the urn.The pitch prepared by curator Damian Hough for the meeting between South Australia and New South Wales is effectively a rehearsal for the surface on which the second Test of the series will be played, complete with the same amount of grass left on the surface to help aid the longevity of the pink Kookaburra ball. In front of a vocal Friday afternoon crowd, Copeland made the very most of it, before Sayers and Worrall also enjoyed themselves.In both the day-night Tests played so far in Adelaide, there has been plenty of assistance for the seam bowlers, capitalised upon most ably by Josh Hazlewood on both occasions. While the strip prepared for the dead rubber between Australia and South Africa last year was less verdant than that used in the first pink-ball Test between Australia and New Zealand in 2015, it still offered the prospect of the seam gripping in grass oft-described as “thatchy” by competing players.This was certainly the case for the delivery Cummins summoned to claim the first wicket of the Shield match, a sharp nip-backer that proved much too good for John Dalton. Australia’s captain Steven Smith will hope that Cummins can find similar deviation during the corresponding Test match, but he will also be given pause by the way Copeland was subsequently able to make the ball talk when putting together a spell that routed the Redbacks.When lined up against the likely Ashes bowlers, Copeland is much closer to the fashion of a Chris Woakes or James Anderson than Cummins or Starc, and they will note with some interest the way he was able to exploit seam movement well before the Adelaide Oval’s lights needed to be switched on.One-Test man Callum Ferguson was tempted to play at a ball nipping away towards a fifth stump and edged to third slip. Jake Lehmann was pinned lbw by a break-back delivered from around the wicket. Tom Cooper found himself bowled first ball by a delivery that held its line after pitching to flick the outside of the off stump. Travis Head was taken at mid-on from a ball that held up after the seam held momentarily in the aforementioned grass, and a couple of tail-end wafts gave Copeland figures of 6 for 24. An innings lasting a mere 33.3 overs afforded Alex Carey, the last man out, precious little chance to press his Test claims.The pitches produced for Australia’s 5-0 Ashes sweep in 2013-14 – especially those for the decisive first three matches in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth – shared in common a hardness and bounce that played into the hands of Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle without offering too much in the way of sideways deviation for Anderson and Stuart Broad. But when Michael Clarke’s heavily favoured team toured England in 2015, it was the green seamers of Birmingham and Nottingham, both explicitly requested by England’s coach Trevor Bayliss after a lop-sided Australian win on a drier Lord’s pitch, that exposed many Antipodean weaknesses against a moving ball.England, of course, are much the poorer in terms of experience against the pink ball, having played only one day-night Test against West Indies earlier this year as opposed to Australia’s three, not to mention a plethora of floodlit Shield matches over the past five seasons. But the sight of a ball darting around off the seam – of any colour – is something Englishmen are habitually more comfortable with than Australians, and the lead taken by Cricket Australia in pushing the pink ball has offered Joe Root’s tourists an opportunity that they would not previously have expected in Adelaide, of all places.The failure of South Australia’s batsmen to cope with Copeland, plus the concurrent, rapid fall of Queensland and Victoria wickets on a grassy-early season pitch at the Gabba, provided a reminder that the moving ball blind spot still exists Down Under. Once New South Wales took their earlier-than-expected chance to bat, Worrall and Sayers were likewise able to deceive Nic Maddinson and Smith, who was artfully squared up by a trio of away seamers before falling lbw to another angled in.So it is that Adelaide under lights looms not only as a historic moment in the saga of Australia-England encounters, but also a shift in the balance of home and away that has prevailed over the previous two series.

Ahead of the Vitality Blast quarter-finals later this week, we take a look at some of the influential figures so far

Matt Roller and David Hopps20-Aug-2018Five weeks ago, Somerset left Bristol having suffered a second defeat in their opening three Blast games. Their game against Kent had struggled for ticket sales – prices had gone up over the winter, justified in part by the need to fund the signings of overseas players, and yet they had signed only one. Their captain Lewis Gregory was struggling for form, and amid rumours of an impending move to Middlesex and some disgruntled fans were calling for him to be left out of the side altogether.Now, all of that seems a world away. Their overseas players Corey Anderson (460 runs at a strike-rate of 173.58) and Jerome Taylor (17 wickets) have been talismen; after signing a new-three year deal, Gregory’s brutal death hitting is the talk of Taunton, not to mention his 15 wickets and impressive captaincy.The phone lines simply couldn’t cope with demand on Saturday morning, with fans desperate for a ticket to see the South Group’s best side in Sunday’s quarter-final against Nottinghamshire.It just goes to show, things change very quickly in the world of T20.

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Some eyes rolled when Durham announced the signing of veteran legspinner Imran Tahir on the eve of this tournament. At 39, Tahir was adding a seventh county to his extensive collection, and there were suspicions that he might struggle to rouse a side that were poor in the Royal London One Day Cup, struggling in the Championship, and still reeling from the horrors of the ECB’s sanctions in the winter of 2016-17.Tahir soon put paid to any doubts. He took 15 wickets to go alongside the best economy rate in the Blast, as Durham blew any pre-tournament predictions out of the water by surging towards the top of the North Group.Fellow overseas pro Tom Latham was the batting lynchpin, while Nathan Rimmington was the star seamer, but local youngsters James Weighell, Liam Trevaskis and Graham Clark have all impressed too. While Tahir will miss the quarter-finals, his presence has helped reinvigorate Durham and turn them into unlikely contenders.

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Northants’ T20 campaign was perhaps best summed up by seamer Gareth Wade’s debut in Friday night’s dead rubber against Leicestershire. Wade’s only legitimate delivery was hit for four, and he was removed from the attack after bowling two beamers. His unenviable figures were 0.1-0-9-0 and, suffice to say, his current career economy rate of 54 is the highest in T20 history.Wade, a 27-year-old seamer plucked from the Minor Counties, was impressive in his response: “Not quite what I had in mind for my T20 debut but s**it happens, it’s how I come back from it,” he tweeted. A good start in their ongoing Championship game against Middlesex suggests Wade’s words have rung true.Friday’s win was only their second of a horror tournament that never got going for them. Personnel changes over the winter seem inevitable.

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Aaron Finch could not carry Surrey alone•ESPNcricinfo LtdThe abiding memory of Surrey’s Blast season should have been Jason Roy and Aaron Finch’s blistering stand of 194 in just 13.5 overs against Middlesex; it was an unbelievable display of ball-striking by two of the competition’s best.Finch scored 589 runs (the most in the tournament) at an average of 147.25 (the highest in the tournament), with 31 sixes (the joint-most in the tournament) and a strike-rate of 182.35 (the highest among those with 300+ runs). In a supposedly unpredictable game, his consistency was remarkable.But Surrey’s reliance on Finch cost them. They won seven of the nine games he played, and lost four of their five without him: a lack of batting depth proved to be their nadir.Instead of that partnership at the Oval, it was Roy who provided the moment that encapsulated their season. Bowled without scoring in Wednesday’s win against Hampshire, Roy picked up a bizarre injury: he threw his bat at the dressing room floor in anger, only for it to bounce up and hit him in the face.The blow ruled him out of Friday’s game in Cardiff and the ongoing Championship game against Lancashire, in which Surrey hope to put a disappointing Blast campaign behind them with a win. After all, a first Championship pennant since 2002 is within touching distance: now that would be better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

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Confidence was bouyant at Essex after their Championship triumph last season and, as the highly-regarded Chris Silverwood left to become England’s bowling coach, the signing of Matt Coles was presented as the signing that would enable his successor, Anthony McGrath, to extend their advance into the limited-overs formats.Coles’ roistering reputation suggested from the outset that his signing was a gamble and it has turned out none too well. He has played a single Championship game, had a mediocre Royal London Cup campaign and in the Blast his returns were a disappointment – five wickets in eight matches as he disappeared at 11.52 an over. Once regarded as an England prospect, he now looks unlikely ever to hear such heady predictions again.

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Rashid Khan had another successful T20 campaign•ESPNcricinfo LtdWhen Afghanistan summoned Rashid Khan to Ireland a day earlier than Sussex had hoped, so ruling him out of the final group game against Middlesex at Hove, a shudder of unease must have been hard to disguise.As it was, Will Beer, in only his third match of the season, filled in admirably alongside the ever-reliable Danny Briggs. Beer may do so again in the quarter-final against Durham on Friday, although if Sussex reach finals day they will doubtless optimistically lobby the Afghanistan board to allow Rashid to squeeze in a game or two ahead of the Asia Cup which begins two days later.Rashid’s Blast involvement pretty much completed the set of outstanding T20 records around the globe; only the Pakistan Super League remains outstanding. His strike rate in the Blast – one wickets every 13 balls – was his best return yet, although his average of 14.35 was second to his average of 13.83 in the Big Bash.

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Kent’s imposing batting line-up has already left them in the promotion places in Division Two and taken them to a Royal London Cup final. Lancashire will face them in the Blast quarter-final at Canterbury on Thursday with a certain amount of trepidation.Two of the finest overseas signings of the summer – the New Zealand fast-bowling pair of Matt Henry and Adam Milne – have also helped. Henry’s 49 wickets at 13.41 were one of the features of the first phase of the Championship and Milne matched those standards in the Blast.Twelve wickets with an economy rate of 7.06 doesn’t sound particularly outstanding, but many of his overs have come at the death and that death-overs economy rate of 7.44 is up there with Wahab Riaz, Jofra Archer, and Harry Gurney, the latter who was too good for Yorkshire in the winner-takes-all-tie.

The offspinner suffered a stress fracture as a consequence of the way he grips the ball and the injury ripped him of his confidence. This is the story of how he’s getting back on track

Deivarayan Muthu10-Aug-2018When he was ten, British producer Richard Stokes was accompanied by his father to the 1956 Ashes Test at Old Trafford, where Jim Laker took ten wickets. Forty-three years later, while working in India, Stokes watched Anil Kumble repeat the feat against Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla. A certain Jayant Yadav was also in the stands at the Kotla that day, watching Kumble’s perfect ten.Seventeen years later, when Jayant made his Test debut for India against England at Visakhapatnam, Kumble was the head coach of India. Jayant claimed four wickets in that game, including that of Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali, in addition to scoring 62 runs. In the third Test in Mumbai, he became the first India No. 9 to hit a Test century.

Holding the ball is a feeling. For example, it’s the feel of a particular pillow you sleep on

Just when his international career was set to take off, Jayant hit a roadblock in the form of a stress fracture of the finger, sidelining him from the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy and leaving him “disheartened”. Following the injury, Jayant spent one-and-a-half months at home, allowing the bone to heal, before finding support from physio Ashish Kaushik and former India legspinner Narendra Hirwani at National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.”The stress fracture of the finger maybe happened because of the way I grip the ball,” Jayant told ESPNcricinfo. “It just happened to me, it’s a very rare injury. During that phase, you go through a lot of things and think ‘why only me and stuff like that?’ Injuries are a part and parcel of cricket. But until and unless it happens to you, you don’t empathize with the fact about what it takes to overcome it. Not being able to play because of some injury is very, very disheartening. Especially, in my case since it was weird and freak injury.”I spent three months at the NCA here and we did icing and flexion to get fit. Rehabs are sometimes boring, but I was lucky to have the NCA physio Ashish Kaushik with me and it was undocumented injury as far as I know. Hiru was also here only when I started my bowling. We did not speak about skills as such and it was just about that mental strength to bounce back. Because your skill will always be there with you”BCCIJayant, however, conceded that he wasn’t positive enough to tackle the injury and felt he could have done a lot better, mentally. “During that time, you think about how you could have done things differently, but at the end of the day, it has happened to you. In hindsight, I could have done better in terms of my mental preparation during my injury,” he said. “It has happened to you and you have to be just positive. It’s easier said than done. I myself wasn’t positive. If I have another injury, touchwood! I don’t have it, I have some experience to bank on.”So, has Jayant changed the way he grips the ball in light of injury? “I have and I haven’t as well,” he said. “It’s a difficult question to answer. Holding the ball is a feeling and I have been doing it for years and years. So, it’s difficult to describe how I’ve changed it. For example, it’s the feel of a particular pillow you sleep on. It used to play on my mind but now I have freed myself up and moved on.”After returning to action in the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy earlier this year, Jayant made it to the India A four-day squad for the England tour. However, he managed only five wickets in 103.3 overs in three games at an average of 73.60. Subsequently, he was not picked for the first four-dayer at home against South Africa A at Chinnaswamy Stadium.

T20 cricket is a like software. If you don’t have updates, you will crash. It’s about updating yourself and making subtle changes

Though Jayant has recovered from the injury, he insisted the fun wasn’t fully back yet. He has a chance to rediscover that fun in the second four-dayer, where chief national selector MSK Prasad is likely to be in attendance.”The fun is not fully back, you have that feel-good factor only when you contribute to a winning cause,” he said.” I haven’t done that since my return from injury. When I do that consistently, the fun will be back.”Jayant’s eyes, though, light up, when you draw his attention to R Ashwin’s near-identical dismissals of Alastair Cook at Edgbaston.”Whoa! That was classic, similar balls first and second innings,” Jayant gushed. “Ash got Cook out in Mohali as well. It’s always a learning curve bowling and training with Ash. In the sense, watching somebody on TV and then training with him is a completely different feeling. When you see India’s premier spinner do the same things you do, you are also motivated and believe you can also get there. Ash always has been a very positive guy in terms of what he wants to and I just admire the way he thinks about the game.”When Jayant started playing cricket, he bowled legspin, but his two first cousins, who were also legspinners, tricked him into switching to offspin. Jayant said he was trying to expand his repertoire, and is currently working on the carrom ball.”When I was a kid, my cousins told me there can be only n number of legspinners in the family (laughs). As for variations, I can’t bowl the , but the carrom ball is something that has been in progress for over a year. It’s not coming out as well as I would like now. Bowling in the nets and bowling in a match are different things altogether. Hopefully, I get it out next year. Especially the way the white-ball game is changing, there is no shying away from variations. T20 cricket is a like software. If you don’t have updates, you will crash. It’s about updating yourself and making subtle changes.”

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you talk India v Pakistan in the UAE?

Shashank Kishore22-Sep-2018India v Pakistan, Wills Trophy, 1991Ravi Shastri, Sanjay Manjrekar and an 18-year-old Sachin Tendulkar defied a fiery attack of Wasim Akram, Aaqib Javed and Imran Khan, before relaxing a wee bit. Then they saw an equally fiery 18-year old Waqar Younis, who had debuted in the same Test as Tendulkar in 1989, reverse swing the ball wildly at searing pace.Manjrekar and Tendulkar had added 85 for the fourth wicket and India were cruising at 219 for 3 in their chase of 258, when Akram dismissed Manjrekar and Kapil Dev off successive deliveries. Tendulkar then took the bowlers on to bring India to within 17 of the target before being the sixth wicket to fall. India eventually needed 12 off the final over, bowled by Waqar. It was nearly pitch dark and fans put on their torches in the stands to enhance fading light.Waqar’s late reverse and Kiran More’s wild heaves allowed India with a slim chance. They needed five to win, but even a tie would’ve ensured an India win on account of fewer wickets lost. More swings and misses, and Pakistan had scampered home by four runs. Two days later, Aaqib rocked India by picking up 7 for 37, including a hat-trick that accounted for Shastri, Mohammad Azharuddin and Tendulkar, as Pakistan won by 72 runs to emerge champions.India v Pakistan, Pepsi Cup, 1996Twenty-five years after their first ODI, India became the ninth Test nation to breach the 300-run mark for the first time. This was achieved courtesy a breathtaking 231-run second-wicket stand between Tendulkar and Navjot Sidhu, who raised their eighth and sixth ODI centuries respectively. As effective as their partnership was, the final kick came courtesy Azharuddin’s blistering 10-ball 29 not out. Twenty-four came off the final over bowled by Ata-ur-Rahman, who finished with 1 for 85 off his 10 overs. Pakistan were on course with brisk half-centuries from Aamer Sohail and Rashid Latif, but fell short by 28 runs.India v Pakistan, Coca Cola Cup, 1999Shahid Afridi, Saeed Anwar, Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq were all gone inside 14 overs. Then India ran into Moin Khan and Salim Malik, who put together industrious half-centuries to set India 206, by no means an easy proposition against Akram, Waqar and Shoaib Akhtar, who was nearing the peak of his bowling prowess, having broken through just two years earlier. Amay Khurasiya lost his leg stump shuffling across to Shoaib. But S Ramesh and Rahul Dravid scored 82 and 81 respectively as India ended an eight-match losing sequence against Pakistan.Two days later, they were in battle again for the final. With the World Cup just two weeks away, momentum was at stake, and Pakistan ran away with the contest from the first ball. Akram, who nearly didn’t play because of high fever, dismissed Ramesh and Dravid inside the first over to set the tone for a collapse. India made 125, far from enough against a strong batting line-up; Pakistan won by eight wickets to lift the cup.India v Pakistan, Abu Dhabi, 2006India and Pakistan were in the midst of an intense love affair. It was the cricketing equivalent of India-Sri Lanka bromance that bloomed a few years later. India had toured in 2004, Pakistan reciprocated in 2005. Then in January 2006, India toured again. So when the series was scheduled in April, it seemed insane on many counts, the harsh weather being the foremost reason.This was also the first time the two sides were meeting in the UAE but not in Sharjah, at the brand new US$ 22 million Sheikh Zayed Stadium in the country’s sprawling capital. Inzamam, who kept churning runs for fun against India during this period, made a match-winning 40 along with Younis Khan’s 71 not out to win the first ODI. In the second match, Inzamam waged a lone battle to make 79 before his opposite number – Dravid – who also made a key 92 in India’s 269 – ran Inzamam out to turn the game. His 100 metre Imran Tahir-like dash afterwards was the highlight of the series that finished 1-1.