The tour “offers us a chance to refine our World Cup squad, defining roles and personnel more clearly,” says coach Daren Sammy

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Apr-2024

Roston Chase played a big hand with bat and ball in West Indies’ last T20I fixture, against Australia in February•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Cricket West Indies have named a number of strong list of T20 specialists in their 15-member ‘A’ squad that will tour Nepal for five T20s later this month. Fabian Allen, Johnson Charles, Mark Deyal, Andre Fletcher, Obed McCoy and Hayden Walsh are all part of the side, which will be led by Roston Chase, who has Alick Athanaze as his deputy.The tour, a first for a West Indian side in Nepal, “serves as another phase in preparation leading up to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024,” West Indies’ lead selector Desmond Haynes said in a statement. “It presents an invaluable opportunity to get our players who are not in the IPL back on the park playing competitive T20 cricket, as well as provides the chance for us to expose a few emerging prospects.”Chase, initially considered a Test specialist in the West Indies, made his T20I debut only in 2021. He was in West Indies’ team for their last bilateral T20I engagement, in Australia earlier this year, and scored a 20-ball 37 and picked up 2 for 19 in his four overs in the only match he played in the series, which was also the only game out of the three which West Indies won.Nepal vs West Indies A

All five T20s at Kirtipur’s Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, on April 27, April 28, May 1, May 2 and May 4

“Chase has exhibited over the past few years an impressive work ethic and proven leadership qualities,” Haynes said. “No doubt since Chase made his T20I debut in October 2021, for West Indies against Bangladesh, he has continued to make considerable strides.”The World Cup, to be played in June in the USA and the West Indies, will feature Nepal among the 20 teams in the fray.West Indies white-ball coach Daren Sammy said, “From a coaching perspective, the Nepal tour couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. It offers us a chance to refine our World Cup squad, defining roles and personnel more clearly. Additionally, with nine players in the IPL, we can truly gauge and push the limits of our T20 team’s depth.”The nine West Indians at the IPL are Andre Russell, Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Alzarri Joseph, Shimron Hetmyer and Shamar Joseph, apart from Sunil Narine, who has ruled out a comeback for West Indies for the World Cup.The West Indies side in Nepal will be coached by Floyd Reifer, with Rayon Griffith as his assistant.West Indies A squad for T20 tour of NepalRoston Chase (capt), Alick Athanaze (vice-capt), Fabian Allen, Kadeem Alleyne, Joshua Bishop, Keacy Carty, Johnson Charles, Mark Deyal, Andre Fletcher, Matthew Forde, Obed McCoy, Gudakesh Motie, Keemo Paul, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh

“Even if he’s still positive he can still play, [but] there’ll just be a few protocols,” Pat Cummins said

Andrew McGlashan23-Jan-20240:59

Clarke: No Australia attack will reach McGrath and Warne levels

Australia are confident that Travis Head will be able to take his place in the second Test against West Indies despite having Covid since the end of the opening game in Adelaide.Head delayed his arrival into Brisbane by a day to give himself extra time to recover at home and opted not to take part in Australia’s main training session at the Gabba on Tuesday evening in order to rest further but will take part on Wednesday. There remains hope that he will test negative before the start of the game, but even if he doesn’t, he will be able to play although there will be some additional protocols in place.”Think he’s almost out of it. He’s fine, feeling good,” Pat Cummins said. “Think he’ll train tonight. Obviously, even if he’s still positive he can still play, there’ll just be a few protocols. But think he’s pretty close to a negative.”Last season against South Africa, Matt Renshaw came down with Covid during his comeback game at the SCG and was kept separate from team-mates while off the field.Related

• Australia's marvel and crisis man, Head again shows why he's a cult hero

• Renshaw could remain available to Brisbane Heat in Test lead-up

• Khawaja cleared for Gabba Test after Adelaide head blow

With Usman Khawaja having cleared his concussion tests since the blow on the head late in the game in Adelaide, Australia are set to be unchanged. Renshaw has been made available to Brisbane Heat for the BBL final at the SCG on Wednesday and will then rejoin the Test squad.Head played the decisive hand in Adelaide with his 119 off 134 balls turning around an uncertain Australia first innings into a lead, which was almost enough to win by an innings inside two days.There was considerable assistance in the Adelaide surface and two days out at the Gabba, the pitch had a distinctive green tinge although it may lose some of that colour before the first day for what will be the venue’s third day-night Test. Last year, the match against South Africa ended inside two days and the ground was handed a demerit point by the ICC, but this surface is not expected to be as wild.”The aim is definitely to wind it back from what it was last year for sure but we have to be careful we don’t go too far,” head groundsman Dave Sandurski told the last week. “We want a contest between bat and ball. We don’t want a T20 batathon. We have to find a happy [middle] ground and hopefully we will find it this year.”The early finish in Adelaide meant the ground was left with no Test cricket over the weekend given the game started on a Wednesday. As a bowler, Cummins is rarely going to shy away from early finishes – and has pinpointed the shorter Tests this summer as a reason why Australia’s attack is set to remain unchanged throughout the home season – but he also believed matches where the ball holds sway provide more enthralling cricket.”I’ve played in Tests that have fizzled out into a five-day draw and think everyone walks away feeling a bit empty whereas [have] played in two or three-day matches where everyone can’t take their eyes off the TV for a minute,” he said. “Ideally you want it to go a bit longer than two days but you want it to be a good contest between bat and ball. A couple of the Tests this summer have been fantastic, feels like every session has importance and each side can win.”With Australia’s three frontline quicks all averaging under 20 in day-night Tests, life is unlikely to get any easier for West Indies’ batters. However, one element that may yet prevent a short finish in Brisbane is the weather, with the forecast deteriorating in recent days with significant rain now expected over the weekend.

After returning just one wicket in the first innings, R Ashwin came roaring back in England’s second dig in Ranchi, with a five-wicket haul that saw the visitors bowled out for 145. Opening the bowling for just the second time this series, Ashwin dented England’s top order with the wickets of Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Joe Root and then came back to clean up the tail.Ashwin said he had to make a ‘mental switch’ in his approach on the Ranchi surface, focussing more on getting the ball to spin with the pitch not offering as much bounce.”So actually I had to go back and rewire the way I had to think about the game,” Ashwin told the host broadcaster after the third day. “I am someone who comes over the top, comes down on the ball. I like the ball to drop on the pitch.Related

• Dhruv Jurel manifests his dream scenario

• Shoaib Bashir: 'On that wicket, anything is possible'

• Stats – R Ashwin goes past Anil Kumble for most Test wickets in India

• India vs England has been a tale of two very good captains

• Ranchi's low bounce catches India off-guard

“Somehow when I come to the eastern part of the country, I find that there is not enough bite out of the surface. The bounce is literally almost near the shin height, if I can say that.”So I had to really go a lot of side spin. I had to hammer into the pitch for the first part of the spell,” Ashwin said. “And later from the other side, I felt like there was a little bit more purchase. I had to literally rewire and it was a mental switch I had to make.”Ashwin did not use his trademark carrom ball for long periods, but eventually foxed Ben Foakes when he did bring it out, as the England keeper offered Ashwin a return catch off a leading edge.”For some strange reason, my knee has been acting up. So it just takes me 10-12 balls to warm up. But I had a bit of warm up before getting in as well. So once I got my length right, that is when I wanted to really try it,” Ashwin said. “I didn’t want to give extra runs because we are chasing last. So every single run to chase is a big bonus.”R Ashwin picked up his 35th five-wicket haul•Getty Images

Ashwin also got to bowl with the new ball for just the second time this series, and sent back Duckett, Pope and Root in his first spell. He said that when captain Rohit Sharma said he and Ravindra Jadeja were to share the new ball, he was quick to volunteer to bowl the first over.”I’ve enjoyed bowling with the new ball and today was one of those days where Rohit just said that both of you are starting, who wants to start? I put my hand up and said I’ll start the over from this side.”Glad and yeah, the new ball has got some sort of an attachment. I enjoyed bowling with a little bit more speed. Loved it once again.”Ashwin now has 170 wickets in 51 innings while opening the bowling, averaging 19.09.Playing his 99th Test, Ashwin notched his 35th Test five-wicket haul – the joint-highest for India along with Anil Kumble. He also went past Kumble for the most wickets taken in India in Tests. But Ashwin said the personal milestones fade in comparison to a team victory.”I mean you can pick all the wickets you want, you can perform all that you want, a team win is [like] nothing [else]. I mean it’s the best thing that can happen to a cricketer. To in a Test match at the end of 4-5 days, the feeling is surreal. I would like to have that feeling tomorrow and Ro [Rohit] and [Yashasvi] Jaiswal have started really well, so hopefully they can carry on from here.”Ashwin didn’t have a five-wicket haul throughout this series before today, but delivered probably when India needed him the most, having conceded a 46-run first-innings lead to England and staring at the possibility of a steep chase. But in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, who has arguably been India’s most influential bowler this series, Ashwin’s efforts helped keep their target under 200.Rohit and Jaiswal, the India openers, took the hosts to 40 for no loss at the close of play on the third day, leaving the team 152 away from sealing the series.R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav shared nine wickets between them in the third innings•Associated Press

Ashwin: Kuldeep changing up his pace and trajectory makes him double the bowler

Before Ashwin could impact the game, India were in a much deeper hole at 177 for 7 in response to England’s first innings score of 353. But a 76-run stand between Dhruv Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav helped India significantly cut down the deficit. While Kuldeep batted out 131 deliveries, Jurel made 90 in just his second Test innings to take India to 307.”I thought we were a little harsh on KD [Kuldeep], got him to bat a little too early than what he would have desired but I felt his defense was gun, he was showing a lot of composure, kept the dressing room very calm,” Ashwin said.”It was even better from Dhruv, I thought,” Ashwin said about Jurel. “Great composure for somebody just playing a second test match. Tight in defence, had a great game plan, wasn’t going bonkers. Picked the right ball to hit. And yeah, that was a huge lift. We batted through till lunch, almost getting on par.”If you had given us even 70-80 runs ahead last night when we went back to the hotel, you would have taken it with both hands.”While Ashwin finished with a five-for, Kuldeep was also running hot with the ball. Introduced in the 25th over, Kuldeep castled Zak Crawley for 60 with the first ball of his third over. He then went on to clean up Ben Stokes before dismissing Tom Hartley and Ollie Robinson in one over.”Yeah, it was phenomenal. I thought Kuldeep bowled brilliantly,” Ashwin said. “But what I really loved about what Kuldeep did today was the way he was working on his run-up, changing the momentum and all that sort of stuff.”We all know how much revs he can put on the ball, what skill he’s got. But when you can change up the pace like that, change the trajectory, which he’s willing to do now, I think he’s double the bowler that he is.”Really happy for him. I just stole the five-for away from him. But that’s how the game goes.”

Andrew Miller speaks to Martin Corry about the winning habit

Andrew Miller22-Aug-2005Cricket in England is currently enjoying the sort of media coveragethat is usually reserved for football and football alone. Only one othersporting side knows that feeling – the England rugby team who won theWorld Cup in 2003. Martin Corry, the England captain and Leicester Tigers stalwart, was a member of thatsquad, and he spoke to Cricinfo about the similarities between the games,and his own passion for cricket.

Martin Corry knows a thing or two about winning © Getty Images
In the autumn of 2003, everyone in England was a rugby fan, now all ofa sudden, cricket is the sport of the moment. Are you experiencing astrange sort of déjà vu?
To be honest, because we were on the other side of the world [inAustralia], we weren’t really aware of the phenomenal interest back home.It was only when we arrived back at Heathrow that we understood just howgripped the nation must have been. This Ashes series has been fantasticand it just goes to prove what we found in 2003. The country just wantsits national sides to be successful, because it’s a chance to share thepride and get behind the team.Is it a help or hindrance for the cricketers to know just how manypeople are willing them to succeed?
It can only help them. Just listen to the crowd and you’ll know what’sgoing on. I don’t think England have ever been supported as well as theyhave been in this series, and so far, the lads have risen to thechallenge. It must be a huge help for them.I hear you were down at Edgbaston for the second Test
Yep, I managed to find a window in my training schedule and went downthere on the first day, and it was a brilliant experience. That day reallyepitomised everything that has been going on, because England really tookthe game to the Aussies and you could see the confidence coming out oftheir pores.Have you ever played the game yourself?
I’m a mad-keen fan and I love watching cricket, but I’ve never played thegame to a great standard. In fact, I had the dubious pleasure of facingMatthew Hoggard in the nets on the Tuesday before the match, and I thinkhe did a good job of showing up all the flaws in my batting!In 2003, you were an ageing side at the very peak of your powers – muchlike the Australian cricket team, in fact. All of a sudden, there aresuggestions that the Aussies have hit the slippery slope. How did you dealwith similar carping Down Under?
When everyone starts criticising you, you have to use it as a spur, andtake on an “I’ll show ’em” kind of mentality. I happen to read a lot ofthe press about cricket, but absolutely none on rugby, because that wayyou can cocoon yourself in your own world. Obviously we all hear stuffthat’s being said, so if it’s negative and it’s someone having a pop, youhave to use that to your advantage. That’s what any professional sportsmandoes – he’ll use any motivation he can get, be it positive or negativecriticism.What makes a great team?
First and foremost, you have to get into a winning mentality, because onceyou’re there, it’s very easy to think like winners and act like winners.Once you’ve done that, you tend to find that you’ll nick the games thatend up in the balance, because you have the confidence of having done itin the past. Presumably that situation arises more in cricket, becausewhen a game gets tight, when it looks like one side might have to bat outfor a draw, there will be someone on hand to pull it out of the bag.That’s what you’ve found with the Australians over the years. They’veoften secured victories when they shouldn’t.

The allrounder Andrew Flintoff is doing a hero’s job for England, says Corry © Getty Images
Is Andrew Flintoff turning into the sort of totem that Martin Johnsonwas for England’s rugby team?
As spectators you always want your heroes to stand out, and Flintoff isdoing that job. Not only is he producing the goods, but he is a greatcharacter with it, and whenever a team-mate takes a wicket, he is alwaysthe first to congratulate him. You always need people like that in theside to give you a lift and make you feel good about yourself. I’ve beenimpressed with not only the way he’s played, but the way he’s become acomplete team man – every successful side needs someone like him.There is a suspicion that this tour will mark the end of Australia’sera of dominance. As we saw with England after the World Cup, the declinewhen it comes can be pretty swift …You’re not going to have world-class players like McGrath or Johnsonaround forever, so the key thing is to give the guy who steps into hisshoes enough opportunities, so that when he does retire, there’s a guywaiting in the wings who’s an experienced Test player. When Jonno wasplaying there was always a squad mentality, because we recognised the needto bring on and give time on the training pitch time to his successor. Andso, when he did retire, straightaway we had a Test-class stand-in. Nobodycan play forever.What is it that keeps great sides at the top?
For the past few years there has been an aura of invincibility surroundingthe Aussies, and that counts for so much in professional sport. If you gointo a match thinking “can we really beat them”, then you’re beatenalready. The great thing about this summer is that, regardless of whathappens in the rest of this Ashes series, England have done themagnificent thing and sent messages around the world. We are really goingfor these Australians, and they are beatable. That is the single mostimportant thing, they have chipped away at that aura.Both cricket and rugby have tended to labour under football’s giantshadow in recent times. How important is it to have periods like these, inwhich they are the only sports anyone is talking about?
It is of massive importance – cricket’s a little bit different to rugby,because it’s predominantly a summer game and so is not competing for thosecolumn inches in the broadsheets. I’m no marketing man, but the aim is toget the sport out as many people as possible, and the best way to do thatis to win the major games.

Jonny Wilkinson: his example has been an inspiration to children everywhere© Getty Images
What is the trickledown effect of a World Cup win or an Ashessuccess?
It is massive. All you’re looking to do is give the youngsters a reason toget up, go out and play the sport. I got a lovely letter from someone theday after the World Cup win. They were driving through town, it wasraining heavily, and they saw a kid with the exact same Jonny Wilkinsonstyle, kicking a rugby ball against a garage door. Things like that makeall the difference, all you want is for this to be their introduction tothe sport. Once they get going they’ll find they love the sport andthey’ll stay hooked. Everyone has stories about how they first got intotheir sport, and if it takes a World Cup win or an Ashes Test victory toget a child playing sport, then that’s a fantastic achievement.So much of rugby and cricket is tactical – are they similarities in theway a captain must approach a game?
To a certain extent, yes. The greatest coaches in the world can give youall the tools and make sure your preparation’s right, and that is whatthey are there for, but as soon as you step onto the park, you’re on yourown and have to make decisions on the hoof. If things aren’t goingaccording to plan, you have to change tactics, and that’s the majorsimilarity. The need to change things around and make something happen.And I find that is particularly evident in the way that Michael Vaughancaptains.What are your memories of astonishing open-top bus-ride after the WorldCup win?
That was a surreal moment. I remember driving down wandering who was goingto turn up. We got on at Marble Arch and there was no-one around, and thejoke among the lads was that we would just be waving at the shoppers onOxford Street. Then we pulled round the corner and the streets were justlined, absolutely packed with supporters waving flags. This country isfull of nationalistic pride, and it was wonderful to be able to see that,especially when we pulled into Trafalgar Square. Looking back now Isometimes think: “did it really happen? Did it happen to that magnitude?”Because it was just such an immense day – the whole occasion wasphenomenal.Two years on, do you feel the rugby excitement has died, and is thatlikely to happen to the cricket as well?
To a certain extent, we’ve got ourselves to blame because we haven’tperformed as world champions since. We haven’t played at the standard towhich we aspire, and while a lot of that is down to our rebuilding phase,we know what’s it’s like to win and be at the top, and we want to stay atthe top. The recent world rankings tell a pretty accurate story because weare quite a long way down. But we’ve had a taste of what it’s like at thetop, and we’ve got to make sure we keep that as our target.

When Manoj Tiwary hits he hits, when he defends he defends. There are no half-measures, no lack of clarity, writes Sidharth Monga

Sidharth Monga in Mumbai05-Feb-2007

Manoj Tiwary: pockets bursting with confidence © Cricinfo Ltd
Manoj Tiwary hits Zaheer Khan, India’s strike bowler who tormented Bengal in the first innings, over mid-off for a mighty six, watches the ball thud against the boundary board and walks away towards square-leg. He then lets his bat rest against his thigh, unstraps his gloves, pulls his shirt sleeve up to form creases around the shoulder area, walks back towards the stumps, holds the bat pointing skywards and bends slightly along the knee.For a moment he reminds viewers of the audacious Kevin Pietersen just after he’s fearlessly swept Shane Warne out of the rough in front of square. When you ask him if it’s a coincidence, he lets out a shy smile and says, ” [I am a big fan of Pietersen’s]. I just love his aggression. And this [styling himself according to Pietersen] started the first time I saw him.” And somewhere there’s more than just a routine that’s Pietersen-esque; he has got a swagger to go along as well.When Tiwary hits he hits, when he defends he defends. Whatever he does, he seems to know what he’s doing. There are no half-measures, no lack of clarity. When his team is down, he attacks, usually picking out the best bowler. He’s aware of his technical limitations and makes no bones about it. He likes to score quickly, but doesn’t stick to the book. He’s not wary of taking the aerial route, yet there’s is no recklessness to his batting. He leaves a number of balls outside the off stump, has a plan as to when and what to hit.When he gets in, he scores big – his 94 today was the first time this season when he’d missed a century after crossing 50. And the three earlier times he’d gone on to at least 150. One must recognise the bucketfuls of confidence behind the boyish frame. “I am not scared of anything; I know I am good.” It shows even in his defensive shots, pushing a ball back to the bowler and, just as he’s been eye-balled, disdainfully walking away towards square leg, concentrating on pulling his shirt sleeve up. At the same time, he’s not one to shirk away from a sledge or two. “I enjoy it,” he says. “I enjoy that a bowler is making an extraeffort to get me out. And I always give it back when it gets verbal.”Tiwary couldn’t finish off the job today, falling to a rash stroke in a critical juncture. Until then, he’d gone after Zaheer, smashing 40 off 42 deliveries, clattering seven fours and a six. And while he was there, in partnership with Deep Dasgupta and Ganguly, even 472 looked achievable. But the nerves seem to take over as he closed in on a century. He tried too many shots, including a reverse-sweep off Ramesh Powar, before finally slashing at a wide one from Abhishek Nair. Dasgupta admitted it was an uncharacteristic phase. “This is his first half-century in the season and he has got 796 runs. Had this been his first century I would have agreed he was nervous.” Tiwary preferred to dead-bat the question. “I was not nervous, nor was I flustered that the runs were not coming. That’s my style of play, it sometimes doesn’t pay off.”

Sourav Ganguly believes that Tiwary is ‘one for the future for India’ © Cricinfo Ltd
Yet one musn’t forget what a memorable season it has been. Two innings stand out. His 151 against Karnataka in the semi-final at Eden Gardens followed a first-innings duck and was made under serious pressure after Bengal had let a first-innings advantage slip while chasing 307 on the last day. He’s also managed a double-century to bat Mumbai out of the league game at Kolkata, allowing Bengal, for the first time in their Ranji Trophy history, to inflict a follow-on on Mumbai.But will he be able to carry this confidence forward as smoothly as he did from age groups cricket to first-class cricket? Are we over-estimating him? Not if Sourav Ganguly is to be believed. “He is one for the future [for India],” Ganguly insisted while prasing Tiwary’s efforts in the final. He’s already earned the moniker “”. For, like Ganguly, Tiwary doesn’t back away from a fight, always has a trick up his sleeve, and has a special fondness forthe big-match environment. He’s captained Bengal to a Cooch Behar Trophy [Under-19] triumph this year, where he scored a fifty against Mumbai in the final, and a double-century in the semi-final. And the journey from age-groups cricket to first-class has been a smooth transition. “The purpose of batting everywhere is to make runs; bowlers are meant to be hit,” he says, “And I enjoy the challenge.”He’s become the highest run-getter for Bengal in a single Ranji season, overtaking Arun Lal’s record in 1993-94. Four more runs and he would have ended the season with an average of 100. Unintentionally, and at a more trivial level, he can claim comparisons with another great. He would prefer sticking to Pietersen though; Sir Don Bradman might not have lofted so many shots in the air in an entire season.

Martin Williamson reviews The England Cricket Miscellany and No Balls and Googlies

Martin Williamson23-Sep-2006

The England Cricket Miscellany by John White
Carlton Books, 160pp, £6.59
No Balls and Googlies by Geoff Tibballs
Michael O’Mara Books, 196pp, £5.99
First an admission. I approached the task of reviewing these two books with real enthusiasm as being a bit of a nerd, as my colleagues will verify (the word ‘anorak’ – Ed) I have rather a penchant for trivia and miscellany and am the owner of more than a few similar publications covering a range of subjects at home.Cricket lends itself to miscellany more than almost any other subject. It is a game with a rich history of eccentrics, oddities and statistics. This kind of book is not meant for cover-to-cover reading – they are aimed at the coffee-table reader (which usually seems to mean people who browse on the loo) and so are for dipping in to. They have few rigid limitations, but one thing they have to do is make sure that the information they contain is right.Unfortunately, The England Cricket Miscellany by John White fails to fulfil that basic requirement. The first page contains a howler – it states as fact that Fred Spofforth ended WG Grace’s first-class career when Grace played Test cricket for 12 years after Spofforth finished, and first-class cricket for more than two decades. There are other errors which are apparent on a first read, and while it might seem petty to make that observation, it raises suspicions that other less common trivia might also be wrong.The content itself is, however, interesting and White, who specialises in this kind of publication across a plethora of subjects, has struck the right balance which should appeal to fan and casual reader alike.No Balls and Googlies by Geoff Tibballs is tighter with its facts but is far too reliant on lists of stats. Those present two problems. One is that they are quickly out of date – many were probably so even before the book hit the shops – and secondly that long (stale) lists of them are of little interest to many people. My first impression on being confronted with pages of such content was that it had been used with little discrimination to pad out the publication. That might be doing Tibballs a disservice, but surely there is more to the game than numbers.One final gripe. White goes to great lengths to list his sources, and compiling a book of this kind inevitably means using a wide range. Tibballs, however, offers no such aknowledgments. It seems remarkable if he had all those statistics, quotes and anecdotes in his head. All the more so if he made a mistake which Cricinfo also made until it was flagged with us and corrected last week. It just confirms the suspicion of a rather rushed job to exploit a resurgence in the game’s popularity.

Stats highlights from the third day of the Adelaide Test between Australia and India

S Rajesh and HR Gopalakrishna26-Jan-2008
Matthew Hayden scored his sixth hundred in 14 Tests versus India, and averages 66.16 against them © Getty Images
Matthew Hayden’s outstanding run continues: his 103 is his 30th Test hundred, which puts him sixth in the all-time list, and third among Australians. He went past Don Bradman’s mark of 29, and only Steve Waugh (32) and Ricky Ponting (33) are ahead of him. Hayden’s 30th ton came in his 94th Test, a rate of 3.13 matches per hundred. Among the top six, his rate is easily the best. Hayden has been especially dominant at home: 21 of his hundreds have come in Australia, where he averages 62.48. Overseas his average drops to 43.57. During the course of his innings Hayden also went past Allan Border as Australia’s most prolific batsman against India: he has scored 1654 runs against them at an average of 66.16; Border’s 1567 came at an average of 52.23. His knock also made him the ninth batsman – and the fourth from Australia – to get to 5000 Test runs at home. Brian Lara leads the way with 6217, but in terms of averages, only Ponting, with an average of 62.68, is marginally ahead of Hayden among these nine batsmen. For the eighth time in 11 innings, Hayden and Phil Jaques put together a 50-plus opening stand. The 159 they added is their highest partnership, and it lifted their average to 71.27. Hayden has been involved in 49 century stands, almost a third of them with Ponting. Virender Sehwag spoke about Australia’s surprisingly defensive tactics with the bat, and stats indicate it’s highly unusual for them to score more than 300 at less than three runs per over. Since 2000, it has only happened six times, and only thrice at home. Apart from Hayden’s century and the opening stand, the biggest gain for Australia was Ponting’s return to form. His unbeaten 79 is his tenth fifty-plus score in 34 innings against India. He averages 48.66 against India; the only other team against which he averages less than 50 in Tests is England (48.24).

England played it their way … and crashed straight into a West Indies team ready for the sucker-punch

George Dobell in Antigua02-Feb-2019If you kept driving your car into a tree, you wouldn’t expect your insurance company – or the police – to be pacified by the response “but that’s the way I drive”.And if you kept setting fire to your house, you might think twice about cooking with paraffin.But England’s batsmen seem reluctant to accept change. Whatever the pitch, whatever the match situation, they appear to think that attack is the best form of defence.Antiguan roads are not especially wonderful. They contain the sort of pot-holes which can swallow a family-sized car. But you wonder if, each day, Trevor Bayliss sits upfront with the team’s bus driver urging him to go faster in a bid to reach the ground before the pot-holes can get them.In this game, England were given a perfect example of how to negate these conditions by West Indies’ batsmen. Both Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo prospered by playing straight, refusing to follow or chase the ball and being prepared to resist for long, scoreless periods during which they had to jab the bat down on the ones which kept low and tried to keep the hands below the deliveries that reared.At one stage Bravo – not so long ago a T20 specialist – went 174 balls between boundaries. His half-century – believed to be the slowest (in terms of minutes) in Test history by a West Indies batsman – was painstaking, but it also took this game beyond England. It was a masterclass in denial and selflessness for the team cause.England’s batsmen seem either unwilling or unable to replicate such an attitude. They won’t – in general – dare to be dull or bore to draw. They react to every challenge (with one or two exceptions, such as the Ben Stokes-Jos Buttler rearguard against India at Trent Bridge) by trying to hit the ball harder, further and faster. Is this really because they believe it is the best way to prosper in such circumstances? Or because they don’t trust their defensive games?Either way, this is an episode that raises more questions about the coaching standards within the England team – who has improved in this environment, after all? – and the structure of county cricket. It is hard to imagine there has been a time in the history of English cricket when there has been such a dearth of top-order batsmen and openers, in particular.When you add to that the lack of fast bowlers and quality spinners and you are left with a domestic system – squeezed into spring and autumn, as it is – that is simply not delivering enough players of Test quality. It might be noted, however, that it is delivering limited-overs players. It’s not hard to see where the ECB’s priorities have led us.Perhaps this isn’t entirely fair. Joe Root, for example, received almost impossible deliveries in both innings, while Joe Denly was out leaving a ball. England have also been outgunned in this series – just as they were in the Ashes in Australia – by tall fast bowlers who hit the pitch harder and gained more from it as a result. They bowled straighter, too, claiming nine wickets with bowled or leg-before dismissals, while England claimed just one; albeit in one fewer innings.England dropped several chances, too. It’s not all the batsmen’s fault, by any means. West Indies have, in all departments, outplayed England.But the point remains valid. Too many England players are putting too low a value on their wickets. Buttler (who was punished for playing across the line) has one century from 30 Tests; Bairstow (who missed a lavish drive) has been bowled 29 times in his Test career – that’s 29 times out of 102 dismissals; more than any Test batsman this decade – and Stokes’ Test average is now down to 32.88. Stokes (bowled off an inside edge while driving) hasn’t scored a Test century since the incident in Bristol and has averaged 24.83 in that period; it was 35.72 before.Moeen Ali, meanwhile, has seen his Test batting average drop to 30.28, Rory Burns wasted a solid-looking start to his innings by guiding a cut to the slips cordon as obligingly as if he had been asked to provide catching practice and, without being unkind, Denly was fortunate not to make a pair having been reprieved by the umpire in the first innings and a dropped chance in the second. Suffice to say, he didn’t look the most convincing answer to England’s opening problems.This cannot be dismissed as an aberration. Not once in four innings this series have England reached even 250 and not once in Sri Lanka did they make 350. Only once in seven Tests in the English summer did they reach 400.We know this England batting line-up has some talent. But talent works best when it is allied to rigour and discipline. At present, this England set-up is looking a little too cosy, a little too forgiving. That dressing room – especially that batting line-up – could do with a dose of cold reality. It isn’t quite what it thinks it is. If they are going to insist ‘this is the way we play’ then England will need to find other players with a bit more sense and sophistication.

Captains keeping and scoring hundreds; and most runs scored in the first and last 10 overs

Steven Lynch09-Oct-2007The regular Tuesday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket.

Adam Gilchrist and Mahendra Singh Dhoni: Captains who also happen to keep wicket © AFP
Both captains in the first two ODIs between India and Australia were wicketkeepers. How often has this happened in international cricket? asked Sriram from the United States, and many others
Last week’s games involving Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Adam Gilchrist were the 11th and 12th occasions in ODIs in which both captains were wicketkeepers. The first three were in 1995-96, when the rival captains in the New Zealand-Zimbabwe series were Lee Germon and Andy Flower, and Flower was half of the equation on the next four occasions too, all of them in 2000 – twice against Pakistan (captained by Moin Khan) and twice in England (captained by Alec Stewart). The last three instances came in the Bangladesh-West Indies series late in 2002, when Khaled Mashud faced Ridley Jacobs in three matches. There have been only five Test matches in which both sides were captained by their wicketkeeper: two involving Germon and Flower in New Zealand in 1995-96, and two involving Mashud and Jacobs in 2002-03. The other instance was also in 2002-03, when Mark Boucher stood in as South Africa’s captain against Bangladesh (led by Mashud) in East London.In a recent ODI between Zimbabwe and South Africa, both wicketkeepers scored centuries. Has this happened before? asked Hans Eric Paree from the Netherlands
That match in Harare was only the second time both wicketkeepers had scored centuries in the same ODI. The first one was the game between India and Sri Lanka in Jaipur in 2005-06, when Dhoni answered Kumar Sangakkara’s ton with an amazing 183 not out.I was stumped by a quiz question recently: which record was set in the very first Test of all, and still stands? asked Vijay Bhosle from Kolkata
The record set in the inaugural Test match, in Melbourne in 1876-77, that still stands concerns the highest percentage of runs scored by an individual player in a completed innings. Charles Bannerman, who scored the first run and went on to the first century in Test cricket, retired hurt with 165 towards the end of Australia’s innings of 245, which represents 67.35% of the total. More than 130 years later, that percentage has never been beaten: the closest was by another Australian opener, Michael Slater, with 123 out of 184 (66.85%) against England in Sydney in 1998-99. In all, 14 batsmen have made more than 60% of the runs in a completed innings of a Test.

Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have a laugh as the records tumble © Getty Images
What’s the highest score in Tests by a right-hander? asked Tom Bowman from Canterbury
That record changed hands last year after belonging to England’s Len Hutton (364 against Australia at The Oval) since 1938. The man who broke it was Sri Lanka’s captain Mahela Jayawardene, who made 374 against South Africa in Colombo, in the match in which he and Sangakkara broke the world record for any partnership with a stand of 624 for the third wicket. Of the top seven individual scores in Tests, five have been by left-handers – Brian Lara’s 400 not out and 375, Matthew Hayden’s 380, Garry Sobers’ undefeated 365, and Sanath Jayasuriya’s 340.Which team holds the record for hitting the most runs in the first ten overs, and which team has made the most in the last ten? asked Sandeep from India
We can’t be definitive here, as we are missing a lot of the over-by-over scores – particularly from Sri Lanka’s record score of 443 for 7 against Holland in Amstelveen in 2006, which obviously must have seen some very quick scoring – but Cricinfo’s own Travis Basevi, the man who built Statsguru, has dug out two instances which it would be hard to better. When Sri Lanka beat England at Headingley in 2006, they had reached 133 for 0 after 10 overs. And when New Zealand slaughtered the United States at The Oval during the 2004 Champions Trophy, they scored 142 (for the loss of two wickets) in the last 10 overs, including an amazing 110 runs in the last five.Whose autobiography was called I’ll Spin You a Tale? asked Robin Ritchie from Cambridge
This was Eric Hollies, the Warwickshire and England legspinner, whose life story was published by the Museum Press in 1955. Hollies had an unusual career: he played his first three Tests on tour in the West Indies in 1934-35, then (not helped by the War) didn’t win another cap for more than 12 years, at the end of which he was recalled to play South Africa in 1947 and took 5 for 123 in his first innings back, at Trent Bridge. But Hollies made his indelible mark on Test history the following year, at The Oval in 1948, when he bowled Don Bradman for a duck in his final Test innings, when Bradman needed just four runs to finish with a Test average of 100. Hollies took 44 wickets in 13 Tests in all, at an average of 30.27. A famously inept batsman, he ended up with many more first-class wickets (2323) than runs (1673) in his long career, which stretched from 1932 to 1957. He died in 1981.

A week into our tour of Australia, we’ve had two defeats, but we’re looking on the bright side, and especially to the Twenty20 at the MCG

Charlotte Edwards30-Jan-2008

England at work during their hard weekend of training © ECB

Having been in Australia a week and played two warm-up games and lost them both, it’s not been a great start to our tour over here. It’s not ideal, but we’re confident that a big score is around the corner for a few of our batters, and our bowling and fielding is improving with every game.We had only been in the country for about 48 hours when we played our first game against Victoria Spirit, and we batted first and got 137. All credit to Victoria, who bowled and fielded exceptionally well, then knocked the required runs off very easily, losing just one wicket to Jenny Gunn. I was obviously disappointed, but I was well aware that it was our first game on grass for six months and we were all acclimatising.After a hard weekend of training, and Australia Day on Saturday, when we also celebrated Laney’s (Mark Lane, assistant coach) 40th birthday, we were geared up to face Australia Under-21s on Monday.We restricted them to 214, which I was happy about because it was a good pitch and a very quick outfield. The pick of the bowlers was Steph Davies, who took 2 for 28 and bowled really tightly without showing any sign of nerves, in only her second England match. I was also really pleased with Laura Marsh’s offspin. She and Steph managed to keep the run-rate down, which was pleasing.A lot of our top order got starts but didn’t go on, which is disappointing and is something we need to address before the next game. But it’s still very early days in the tour and I’m confident we’ll put it right before the series starts on Friday.The Shooting Stars (Australia U-21) were a really good side and I’m sure many of them will be playing for the full Australian team in the near future. It’s good to see what players they’ve got coming through ahead of the World Cup over here next year.Looking ahead to the Twenty20, which we’re playing at the MCG on Friday, the girls are all really excited about playing at such a fantastic venue and especially in front of what could be a decent crowd. We’re playing ahead of the Australia v India men’s match, so there could potentially be a huge attendance, which would be great for the women’s game.Twenty20 has had a massive impact on the women’s game, encouraging more people to watch it and for the players to express themselves more. It’s also made players realise what they can achieve, which can only benefit the game. I think that filters through into the men’s game too, and that’s obvious from the developments the format has made since it started.

	Cricket aside, the jet lag is well out of the way and we’ve all stopped waking up at four o’clock in the morning. Dance-wise, Sarah Taylor’s turned into my choreographer and is trying to teach me some new moves, because the girls are all bored of my shoulder shimmy!

I think it’s great that Channel 9 are putting on a highlights package of our game. We’re very lucky in England, with two games televised live on Sky Sports every summer, and it’s great that Australia are now starting to get the exposure they deserve.We all know that playing Australia on home soil is always tough and that’s been proven in these past couple of matches. We’re not currently up to the standard that we’d like, but we’re aware that we’re going to be judged on our performances from Friday onwards. We know we need to work extra hard over the next four days, because to have any chance of beating Australia we know we have to be playing at our absolute best.Cricket aside, the jet lag is well out of the way and we’ve all stopped waking up at four o’clock in the morning. Dance-wise, Sarah Taylor’s turned into my choreographer and is trying to teach me some new moves, because the girls are all bored of my shoulder shimmy! I’ve been practising Sarah’s moves in the lounge of our apartment, which is fantastic accommodation in central Melbourne. The team CD has provided me with my backing tracks, but I’m not sure of some of the songs, like the Timbaland ones – I think I’m getting old!Everyone’s been really friendly over here so far, especially one taxi driver who gave me a guided tour of Melbourne and a quick lesson in what cricket actually is, as if I didn’t know, which was very funny. He took me past the MCG as part of my tour and we realised just how exciting it will be to play there on Friday.