The amount of T20 cricket India play has left most of their batsmen unable to compile big Test innings and their bowlers unable to produce multiple spells of accurate bowling away from home

Jarrod Kimber at the SCG06-Jan-2015The fear has been with us for a very long time. Cricket does fear and worry better than parents watching a drunken aunty hold their newborn. T20 is cricket’s creeping evil. If you look hard enough, and have the right kind of tunnel vision, you can see its destructive powers in every part of cricket.The spectre of T20 and its giant mutated child, IPL, is never far away when people talk about India. If India win a match, they do it because of the IPL. If they lose, they do it because of the IPL. Their batsmen are flashy millionaires with shots a dozen who can’t crack real cricket. Their bowlers are lazy, popgun, four-over specialists with tricks to get a bloke caught at long-on and not much more.We are in the first T20 generation of cricketers. Players who are arriving at Test cricket with contracts across continents, who can reverse, switch-hit, ramp or scoop a maximum for a moment of success, but who enter the corridor of uncertainty like a chainsaw wielding psycho is at the other end. Coaches tried to ground their pupils at first, but now we have T20 specialist coaches who cheer rather than chide improvisation. When Glenn Maxwell played a reverse hook shot, we’d reached uber cricket-max mode.Cricket has feared the limited-overs revolution for almost as long as it has existed. In the 1990s every time a bad shot was played, ODI cricket was blamed. It was the IPL before we had the IPL. Yet, if you spend anytime watching old cricket footage, stupid shots and pointless bowling has always existed. When Sobers made his double-hundred at the G for the Rest of the World, the modern analyst’s computer would have exploded at the amount of short and wide balls he got.T20 makes you rich. T20 puts you on television. T20 makes you a target.In this match we have David Warner, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, R Ashwin, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, and Rohit Sharma. All T20 players first, Test cricketers second. Perhaps not in hopes or dreams, but in reality and contract.Warner was a franchise player before a first-class player. Smith has travelled the world playing limited-overs cricket in shirts every colour of the rainbow. Ashwin was a Chennai Super King well before he was an Indian spin king at home. Kohli was the emerging player in the first IPL and one-day superstar. They have all adapted, changed and are working out what Test cricket is.India as a team is yet to evolve. This is a young team; Kohli with 33 Tests is the most experienced player. They have talent, they have proved that at home, but on the road is where young players are tested the most. And on this road at the SCG, they were run over.Most of India’s current squad have played more domestic T20s than any other form of cricket. Dhoni had not played a Ranji Trophy match since 2005, or Irani Cup match since 2008. Rahane has played one first-class game outside of India colours since 2012. Dhawan has played none since his debut. Rohit has one in the last two years. Mohammed Shami last played in 2012. Raina did not play a first-class game in 2014. He has played 203 ODIs, and 86 first-class matches. And Ashwin not one since 2010. This is a generation of cricketers learning Test cricket while playing it.Because of their schedule, and how they like to warm up – when India play warm up matches before Tests – they use most of their squad. Blokes retire once they start hitting the ball well. They bowl 12 overs in the match and then rest with the physio. They don’t treat them like matches, and they don’t reap the rewards of a bowler bowling his 20th over and working through a set batsman. Or a batsman pushing beyond 130 knowing how tired that makes you. Their innings and spells are short, their games are make believe. And because of this they struggle to play more than three good sessions in a row. They can’t catch in the slips. Their bowlers need a rigid plan. And their batsmen give away good starts.Mohammed Shami, who has been ordinary on this tour of Australia, had Chris Rogers dropped by KL Rahul at slip on the first day at the SCG•Getty ImagesMany times in this series India have played good cricket. The first two sessions on day five in Adelaide gave them a chance of winning. The next session might as well not have existed. At the Gabba they fought to get the Australia tail in while they were well behind. Then they spent hours bowling at them. For three seasons India batted well at the MCG, but they had one session where they gave away five wickets and the Test was over. They have not had one great innings from beginning to end. Not with the bat, not with the ball, not with their fielding, and not with their captaincy.India have dropped a fair chunk of slip catches this series, but what was more noticeable is the amount of people who have fielded in the cordon – Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Kohli, Ashwin, Raina, KL Rahul, Rahane and M Vijay. There could be even more. Slip is a position you only learn by standing there. You can have the hands, you can have the reflexes, but your mind needs to be trained on how to be ready for the one ball a day that may come your way. The Indian slips don’t even get whole days. Or whole sessions. Ashwin aside, if you’re a batsman, you’re probably going to be travelling through there.The first morning in Adelaide, India started around the wicket to Warner. It was a clear plan. When Mitchell Johnson came in at the Gabba, sledging and bouncing happened. It was a clear plan. All series India have been aiming at Chris Rogers’ hip. It is a clear plan. When Brad Haddin came in at Melbourne, he was bounced. Plan. India set the field in such a way that Haddin, and seagulls flying overhead, knew where the ball was going. It’s almost as if India don’t believe their bowlers can come in and bowl ball after ball, over after over, session after session. So they pile on these plans that, mostly, have just not worked.Kohli has three hundreds and one fifty. His team have two hundreds and seven fifties. Rahane, Pujara and Vijay should have made hundreds. Dhoni, Rohit and Ashwin gave up starts before they got to 50. The Australian order has only made three more hundreds, but they have a tail. India are naked once they are seven wickets down. Too often their batsmen have done some good work, but not enough, and then the innings just disappears.That is India. On first glance they look okay, then the harder you look, the longer you look and the more often you look, the worse they seem.The 12th ball on Boxing Day was quick, bounced, and took the edge. Umesh Yadav is big and strong. He’s the most moose like of Indian quicks. His strike rate is amazing. His pace is impressive. Dhawan at slip goes low, the ball hits the middle of his hands, he roles forward athletically.But it’s kind of a mirage. It’s the best of India, and what they can do. But notoften what they do.They’re learning as they go in front of a billion angry fans, on unhelpful surfaces, without bowlers who can keep pressure, batsmen who score regularly overseas, with a captain leaving, a hot head taking over and Ravi Shastri. And T20 cricket ruining their games.Their biggest problem might just be that they don’t play enough cricket of this kind. You can make 264 in an ODI, without really knowing how to do it in a first-class match. You can take a five-wicket haul without knowing what a fifth spell feels like. And you can catch a one-hander on the boundary and never learn how to take a nick at second slip.Today India watched Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Warner make a hundred, before ending the day with a big partnership from Rajasthan Royals’ Smith and Watson. Earlier in the series they lost wickets to the find of the 2010-11 BBL, Nathan Lyon and the IPL-winning Ryan Harris. And they ran out the top scorer of the first IPL tournament for 99 in Melbourne.If T20 is truly evil, it’s clear it also discriminates.

Former Test fast bowler Tony Dell knew nothing of post-traumatic stress disorder until he was diagnosed with it himself. Now he does everything he can to help other sufferers

Brydon Coverdale13-Jan-2015Cricket is full of numbers, most of them fairly meaningless in the wider scheme of things. Tony Dell was the 255th man to represent Australia in Tests and took six wickets at 26.66 in his two appearances. But there are other statistics of far greater consequence for him.”One veteran tops himself or herself in Australia every day of every year,” Dell says. “In America it’s every hour of every day of every year. In the last ten years we’ve lost more people to suicide than we’ve lost on the battlefield.”Unique in the world of cricket as the only Vietnam veteran to play Tests, Dell knows whereof he speaks. For 40 years he dealt in his own way with the memories, the horrors of war. He spent four decades back in civilian life before he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).Looking back, it explained a few things. Like why Dell would always sit with his back to a wall whenever he entered a room. Like why he became a workaholic and gave up his cricket career early. Like why his marriage broke up and he became estranged from his children.He describes his own case as “middle of the range”, and knows that others have it tougher. Before he was diagnosed, Dell didn’t even know that PTSD existed. He saw fellow veterans struggle with alcohol or drug abuse, down at the RSL (Returned and Services League, an ex-serviceman’s club) getting smashed six nights a week. “You weak bastards,” he thought. But now he knows. Now he’s doing something about it.Stand Tall For PTS is the official charity partner of the Prime Minister’s XI match this year, to be played against England at Manuka Oval in Canberra on Wednesday. Dell started Stand Tall For PTS after being diagnosed and discovering the lack of awareness of the disorder, and the absence of help available for sufferers.Gradually the organisation has gained traction. Prime minister Tony Abbott has given his support, hence the involvement in Wednesday’s match. Angus Houston, the retired Chief of the Defence Force, is the patron of Stand Tall for PTS. Military personnel are susceptible, but so too are police, ambulance officers, firefighters – anyone exposed to traumatic events.”There’s no accurate figures, but there are estimates that up to 1.5 million Australians do have it to some degree,” Dell says. “And it will never go away. If you could mend the memory then it might go away. But you learn to live with it. There are victims of crime, accidents, natural disasters, and it’s the least understood and the least funded by the government.”Dell’s own PTSD story began when he was called up for National Service in 1965. He ended up in 2RAR (2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment) and in 1967-68 served in Vietnam before returning home at the completion of his National Service. He thought he would pick up where he left off, resuming his job in advertising and his cricket career with Eastern Suburbs in Brisbane.

“You’re always taught that the strength of the section is only as strong as the weakest member… I always felt guilty about buggering off playing cricket when my workmates were still back there slogging away.”

A tall left-arm fast bowler, Dell played for Queensland from 1970-75, and featured in two Tests, against England at the SCG in February 1971 and three years later against New Zealand in Melbourne. But he retired from the game at 27 and put all of his energy into his working life.”It starts with a horrific trauma, in my case a couple of situations in Vietnam,” Dell says. “You just get on with your life. You haven’t got time to frig around in the Army. It’s just, okay that happened, suck it up and move on. Or it can be just abject fear; there was one situation for me where I just shit myself for two or three hours.”You move on and you put it into your subconscious and there it ferments. Eventually it re-emerges. I don’t think that there were too many incidents until the early ’70s. It can be bad dreams, flashbacks, night sweats, teeth grinding, fear of being in crowds. For 20 or 30 years if I went into a room or a restaurant or something, I’d sit with my back to a wall facing out.”You can become a workaholic. I know in my case I’d get up at the crack of dawn, go to work and wouldn’t come home until late at night because you’re subconsciously keeping yourself busy and shutting out times when you can sit and think. A lot of guys can’t handle it and start hitting the booze or drugs, substance abuse, and then it gets too much for a lot of people.”My marriage busted up and my kids were estranged. You become very anti-social. My sister-in-law thought I was the worst bastard in the world. Now that she knows, we’re on speaking terms again. That’s what this is all about. There’s so much misinformation out there.”Looking back now, Dell also realises that post-traumatic stress had a major effect on his cricket career. After the second of his Test appearances he told national selector Sam Loxton he didn’t want to play anymore. Queensland captain Greg Chappell talked him into a fifth season of state cricket, but that was it.”I’d always had this guilt trip,” Dell says. “In the Army they teach you to kill, but they don’t un-teach you. I just handed in my slouch hat and belt and they said, see you later, and next week I’m back at work.”You’re always taught that the strength of the section is only as strong as the weakest member. I carried that with me back to work, and I got in trouble at work sometimes when people were slacking off, and I lost a job because of that.”I always felt guilty about buggering off playing cricket when my workmates were still back there slogging away, earning a buck, and I was still being paid. I just said to Sammy Loxton, I’m sorry but I don’t want to play anymore. PTSD had a big effect on my cricket.”Like many people, Dell was shocked to learn he was affected by post-traumatic stress. It only came to light through a series of events that began in 2007 when he was invited to be the guest at a cricket challenge organised for defence force personnel from various countries. It was there that he first met Houston. It was also where a retired colonel asked Dell if he still had all his old medals.He didn’t. The colonel told Dell he should get them replaced. After months of phone calls reminding him that he could get these new medals, Dell gave in. He went to his local Vietnam Veterans Drop-In Centre in Maroochydore to set the process in motion. Then came a cup of coffee and a chat, and a startling observation.”They said, ‘You’ve got PTSD,'” Dell says. “I said ‘bullshit’. They said, ‘No, definitely.'”Eventually Dell was officially diagnosed and given a pension; he was also told that there were thousands more Vietnam veterans like him who also suffered from post-traumatic stress. In 2009, he returned to the same international defence cricket event as the after-dinner speaker.”I talked about cricket, Vietnam, PTSD moments,” Dell says. “I finished off and got a standing ovation, which surprised me. It went on for what seemed like five minutes. Angus gave me a hug and the chief of the army congratulated me, because for the first time someone had come out and said they had PTSD and this is what it’s done to my life.”There were sowed the seeds for what became Stand Tall For PTS. Those seeds are growing into something significant. Dell and Houston last year set in motion plans for a major national PTSD forum in Brisbane in September this year. Dell hopes the event will be a “who’s who” of PTSD, complete with international guests. The aim is to end up with an action plan of genuine substance.Of course, different treatments work for different people. Medication might help some PTSD sufferers but Dell has never been one for that approach himself. In a strange way, he finds his own best treatment comes from being the figurehead of Stand Tall For PTS.”It’s my therapy,” Dell says. “I do this now 24/7 and it’s just a continuation of the workaholic syndrome. One of the worst things that can happen when you get a pension is they tell you that you’re only allowed to work eight hours a week. That’s a trap in itself. What do you do? You just sit and think. You have to keep busy. So this is part of my therapy.”

Injuries derailed him but a fit Stuart Meaker could provide the speed England need

Alex Winter09-Apr-2015It’s a statistical quirk to rival any other. In 2011, Stuart Meaker took 44 Championship wickets at 22.56. In 2012, he also took 44 Championship wickets at 22.56. “And the coaches want me to be more consistent!” Meaker quips.Those years saw the emergence of a bowler tipped to become a leading international force. The quickest in England, clocked at 93mph, with a front-on action likened to Malcolm Marshall, Meaker seemed a star in the making. But injury has hindered his progress and after two operations and two “gritty” years, Meaker begins 2015 with a host of bowlers ahead of him in the England reckoning and his form to prove once again.”People ask, where are England’s crop of fast bowlers compared to Australia? We’ve got them. And hopefully I can be one of them,” Meaker told ESPNcricinfo.Meaker was first selected for England on the ODI tour of India in 2011. “I was flying that summer: swinging the ball both ways, knocking people’s poles over for fun and thinking this is fantastic, I’m the new Allan Donald.” He did not disgrace himself in the final two matches of the series but returned for two T20s, also in India, the following year and took greater punishment, sending down four overs for 42 in the second fixture.”A big part of me wishes I had been picked a little bit earlier and at a time when I wasn’t carrying the niggles,” Meaker says. “The first tour I was at my peak and really starting to break through but after that I’d injured my shoulder and my knee was playing up. I’d gone through a good season but things had really started to hit me in terms of the body being affected by my performance.”Stuart Meaker is gunning for an England recall after two injury-affected seasons•Getty ImagesEqually impressive returns (to the decimal place) followed in 2012, this time in Division One of the Championship, but Meaker’s much-needed rest at the end of the season was cut short by a call up to the Test tour of India following an injury to Steven Finn.”I had a jab in my knee but when you get the call up you’re just going to do whatever you can to be able to try and perform and I carried those injuries through the tour. There were net sessions where I was in all sorts of bother but not being able to say much because I was worried they wouldn’t pick me or even send me home.”He struggled on through a tour of New Zealand, where he didn’t play, and then in eight Championship matches during 2013. But ultimately surgery was needed and, having never previously gone under the knife, Meaker was in for a double bout within a month, dealing with patella tendonitis – treated by the same surgeon that saw Stuart Broad at the end of last summer – and a shoulder decompression, ironically suffered in Meaker’s last England appearance with a superman dive in the outfield.”I got over it and came out of the blocks flying at the start of last season,” Meaker says. “But then, as happens, you prepare, you do your rehab and then you pick up another injury out of the blue. I had a rib that got inflamed from constantly bashing it bowling. By the time I got back in August, the way the structure of the season works, we had 60-70% of the season done and it was it was difficult to get back in the side.”Previously, when Chris Adams and Ian Salisbury were here, there were times when I had been bowling well enough to just go straight back in the side but I don’t think that’s a good thing for the squad. It’s not fair. So I was back in second XI cricket, it swung around corners for me down at Kent and then I was called back into the first team at Guildford.”That match against Kent saw Meaker back close to his 2011 self; bowling with pace and moving the ball. He took 11 wickets and enjoyed a brief purple patch until his body caught up with him – painkillers were needed for his knee, with no time to continue the strength work that he stuck too so painstakingly during his rehab of almost four months.”I’m quite fastidious in nailing my rehab and doing the right things and being disciplined. That’s just who I am. People might look at it now and go ‘oh why are you doing so much?’ but down the line it’s got to help and I try to look as long term as I can.”Meaker’s “long term” is aiming to get back into the England set-up. He name-checks Liam Plunkett as an example of a bowler who can come back strongly having drifted from the international scene. But, unlike Plunkett, Meaker is yet to really get a thorough crack for England.A brief chat with Kevin Shine, the ECB lead bowling coach, at The Oval has been the only recent contact with the England management. This time, Meaker, who boasts far superior red-ball figures – 210 first-class wickets at 28.27 – to white-ball – a combined 68 List A and T20 wickets at 35.97 – is perhaps looking straight at the Test squad, with the skills required to bowl in one-day cricket becoming far removed.”That path is perhaps becoming eroded now,” Meaker says. “You look at someone like James Faulkner, I don’t see how you can bowl like he does with his tricks and guile and nailing those yorkers, and the way you have to contort your body into all sort of different positions – to then do that with the red ball, in Tests you just have to be consistent in the same areas day after day, it’s completely different. The physical angles are so different so I don’t believe the path to Tests is through one-day cricket now.”That may help Meaker as he tries to deliver on the promise of speed-gun readings and statistician-pleasing consistency.

England have been forced by the schedule to select a new-look side to face Ireland but the horror World Cup show would have demanded change in any event. ESPNcricinfo introduces those who aim to be part of the future

Andrew McGlashan07-May-2015James Vince (24, Hampshire, right-hand batsman)Though only 24, Vince has long-been tipped as an England batsman, with a cover drive and pull likened to Michael Vaughan. In his last two seasons he has averaged over 60 in the County Championship although he only has three List A hundreds from 80 matches. Captained England Lions in the one-day series against South Africa A, which the Lions won 3-1, and made 99 in the second match during a stand of 198 with Jason Roy. Is also Hampshire’s limited-overs captain for the 2015 season and could be an outside bet for the England job before the 2019 World Cup.Zafar Ansari (23, Surrey, left-hand batsman, left-arm spinner)Anyone who bowls passable spin has a chance of getting a look-in for England at the moment. Ansari’s left-armers are better than that and he was close to earning a spot in the Test squad to tour West Indies. He has spent considerable time on ECB spin-bowling programmes in recent winters but his first-class record in 2014 was five wickets at 47.50 – and he took just five wickets in four Royal London Cup matches – although did pass 1000 first-class runs. May struggle to get a game in damp Dublin conditions, especially now Adil Rashid has been drafted into the squad.Sam Billings (23, Kent, right-hand batsman, wicketkeeper)The most exciting of the uncapped players in the squad, the Kent wicketkeeper batsman has spoken about wanting to become England’s AB de Villiers. Confidence is no bad thing. He took the Royal London Cup by storm in 2014 with 458 runs at 114.50 and a strike-rate of 154.20. Those returns included a phenomenal unbeaten 135 off 58 balls against Somerset coming in at No. 7. Was promoted to England’s World Cup 30 when Craig Kieswetter withdrew and made two fifties in the one-day series against South Africa A. Will compete for a space in the ODI squads as a batsman alone.David Willey (25, Northamptonshire, left-hand batsman, left-arm fast-medium)A combative allrounder who has inherited the steely, competitive genes of his father, the former England allrounder Peter Willey, David would surely have already made his international debut if it had not been for a back injury which disrupted his 2014 season. He carried Northamptonshire to the T20 title in 2013 when he struck 60 off 27 balls then followed that with 4 for 9, which included a hat-trick. With England desperate to find a left-arm seamer who can justify a place Willey has the chance to tick a major box.Lewis Gregory (22, Somerset, right-hand batsman, right-arm fast-medium)Brought a new level of consistency in 2014 having been promoted to the new-ball role in the Championship, although was limited to nine matches by a hamstring injury, and also struck a maiden List A hundred with an unbeaten 105. Has made an impressive start to the 2015 season with 15 wickets in three Championship matches. Success on Taunton pitches as a seamer also gives a bowler kudos.Mark Wood (25, Durham, right-hand batsman, right-arm fast-medium)Has spent the last month in West Indies as part of the Test squad but could not force his way through the safety-first selection policy. Has a reputation as one of the quickest bowlers on the domestic circuit and also one of the better exponents of reverse swing – probably not a factor against Ireland if Friday’s weather forecast is any guide. Has previously revealed that he has an imaginary horse he brings out when bored in the field.Jason Roy (24, Surrey, right-hand batsman)Not uncapped at international level, Roy made his England debut in the T20 against India, at Edgbaston, last season but if selected against Ireland it will be his first ODI. There is a clamour for him and Alex Hales to be England’s full-time opener pair, given time to build a partnership together without fear of being dropped with each failure along the way. Was England Lions’ leading run-scorer in the win over South Africa A which included an innings of 141 – a List A career-best.

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jun-2015Taylor struck again six overs later to bowl Brad Haddin – who scored a brisk 22 off 23 balls – and pick up his fourth Test five-for•Getty ImagesDespite the flurry of wickets at the other end, Steven Smith anchored Australia, as they scored 92 for 4 in the first session on day 2•Getty ImagesSmith remained unbeaten on 175, scoring 50% of his team’s runs, as Australia went to lunch on 350 for 8•Getty ImagesSmith was dismissed after lunch for 199, his highest Test score, and Australia were bowled out for 399 not long after•Getty ImagesTaylor finished with his best Test figures, 6 for 47•Getty ImagesThings did not start well for West Indies with the bat, as Mitchell Starc had debutant opener Rajendra Chandrika caught behind for a duck•Getty ImagesThe wickets kept falling, and Nathan Lyon passed Hugh Trumble as Australia’s leading Test wicket taker among offspinners•Getty ImagesHaddin held on to a catch between his legs to dismiss Shai Hope•Getty ImagesJosh Hazlewood troubled the middle order and claimed 3 for 15•Getty ImagesMitchell Johnson had Veerasammy Permaul caught behind on the brink of stumps to leave West Indies at 143 for 8•Getty ImagesLyon led the Australians off after finishing with 3 for 35•Getty Images

England will be no pushovers at home – KP saga or not – but this New Zealand side is possibly the best to have represented the country

Andrew Alderson18-May-20152:17

McCullum’s spontaneity down to research

After hibernating almost five months, New Zealand’s Test game is about to reboot.The team is undefeated in six Test series, extending to the England tour two years ago when the hosts’ pace attack shredded New Zealand’s second innings at Lord’s for 68, and ten wickets from Graeme Swann, the first by a spinner in a match for 41 years at Headingley, ensured further humiliation.Lessons were learned that enabled the New Zealanders to begin transitioning into the world’s third-ranked side.Combine that Test success with the confidence gained from getting to their maiden World Cup final. That makes this New Zealand side a contender for the best team to have represented the country. Consistency, talent and ruthlessness have met at an optimum juncture.New Zealand will be under no illusion that England, regardless of the rancour surrounding Kevin Pietersen, will be a threat at home. Those who batted at Lord’s last time will be wary as Stuart Broad and James Anderson gallop in, reminded of the fourth day in 2013.That’s where coach Mike Hesson might help. Hesson has not been occupied – or distracted, depending on your perspective – by an IPL contract. During his reign he has instituted means of trawling for cricketing intelligence that would impress J Edgar Hoover. His laptop creaks open, due to being stuffed full of batting, bowling and fielding minutiae.However, there must be concerns that captain Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson, Trent Boult and Tim Southee, arguably New Zealand’s most pivotal Test players, are underdone. Their only red-ball practice will have been whatever they could fit around IPL training.McCullum gave such preparation-based theories scant credibility in 2008. He swaggered in from the IPL and made a run-a-ball 97, but he is a rare species in the Test habitat. In contrast, Williamson, a man of meticulous method, faces an unfamiliar scenario to ensure Test readiness. He has only played two innings for Sunrisers Hyderabad, making 26 not out and 5. The last was on April 13.

The way Matt Henry handled being left out of the World Cup squad initially, his subsequent Plunket Shield form, and the benefit of being under McCullum’s eye at Chennai Super Kings point towards a possible debut

From a more encouraging perspective, Hesson and McCullum look almost certain to recall Martin Guptill. What appeared a conundrum choosing between Guptill and incumbent Hamish Rutherford at the start of the tour looks to have become clearer, when Guptill set up New Zealand’s 15-run victory over Worcestershire in the four-day warm-up match.The opener scored 150 off 210 balls, prompting Hesson to all but ink his name on the Lord’s team sheet. Guptill made 35 off 53 balls in the first innings after his return from a side strain. His donning the pads first indicated he already had the edge over Rutherford to partner Tom Latham.”His tempo over the whole innings was what you want to see from an opening batsman,” Hesson said. “He’s done exactly what you want from a player who hasn’t played the last Test. He’s fought hard to get back in the squad, put in a decisive warm-up performance today and is in strong consideration.”Guptill’s last Test was two years ago, at Headingley. He was deemed to have defensive frailties at Test level. This season he has been in form at Derbyshire, scoring 451 runs at an average of 112.75, including a first-class best of 227 against Gloucestershire.His resume also includes being the top run scorer at the World Cup. He made 547 at 68.37, with a strike rate of 104.58. His coup de grace, 237 not out in the quarter-final against West Indies in Wellington, was the highest score in 11 editions of the tournament.Rutherford also delivered runs after 37 and 11 against Somerset. He made 75 off 140 balls at New Road to anchor New Zealand’s first innings. Batting at No. 3, he entered in the third over and hit just five boundaries, a rarity for a player who loves punctuating the rope, particularly from cover point to mid-off.Hesson and McCullum must decide if doubt has been erased over whether Rutherford succumbs to temptation too often when presented with a wealth of juicy deliveries outside off stump. He drives as well as anyone, but if he’s picked, England will be sure to stack the slip cordon and pitch it up, given he took the bait in 2013.Martin Guptill is in the form of his life, and is most likely to slot in at the top•Getty ImagesElsewhere, Matt Henry shapes as a prospect to claim the third pace-bowling spot from incumbent Doug Bracewell and reliable Neil Wagner. As a right-armer, there will be a consideration that Henry balances the attack if left-armer Corey Anderson replaces injured right-arm Jimmy Neesham as the allrounder. Henry was the major victim when the 15-man World Cup squad was picked, missing out to Southee, Boult, Adam Milne, Mitchell McClenaghan and Kyle Mills. The way he handled the initial disappointment, his subsequent Plunket Shield form, and the possible benefit of being under McCullum’s eye at Chennai Super Kings point towards a possible debut.As Milne’s replacement, Henry bowled respectable spells in the World Cup semi-final and final, including taking the wickets of Australians David Warner and Michael Clarke at the MCG.However, Bracewell’s 55 wickets at an average of 35.10 in 19 Tests and Wagner’s 58 wickets at 34.48 in 16 are respectable numbers. Both delivered strong spells against Somerset and Worcestershire, as did Henry, who took the final three wickets for 58 runs off 11.2 overs in the second innings to help win the latter match.Henry might be an option to take advantage of grass on any pitch. The English Duke balls have a prouder seam than the Kookaburra brand used in New Zealand, and Henry’s skill set might suit, especially if he bowls his familiar full length to maximise swing. He took six wickets at 20.83 in the List A games on last year’s New Zealand A tour of England, and seven wickets at 15.85 in the first-class match against Surrey at The Oval, including a return of 5 for 18 in the first innings.Before his World Cup call-up, he bowled regularly at first-class level, taking 20 wickets at 28.55 in six matches for Canterbury.The onus now is on Hesson and McCullum to assess the competing parties at the first all-in team training tomorrow at the Nursery, as New Zealand pursue their second victory at Lord’s in 17 attempts. The sole success came in 1999.

One minute Matthew Fisher is bowling in front of a capacity crowd at Headingley, the next he is back learning his trade – at the place where Joe Root and Adil Rashid did theirs

Paul Edwards10-Jun-2015In front of a raucous crowd at Headingley last Friday evening, Matthew Fisher bowled the penultimate over of Yorkshire’s NatWest T20 Blast match against Lancashire. He was hit for two sixes, took two wickets and sent down two wides. He was watched by 16,199 spectators.On Saturday morning, Fisher was at Shaw Lane Sports Centre, the home of Barnsley Cricket Club, where he was due to captain Yorkshire’s Academy against the team just above them in the ECB Yorkshire Premier League.Matthew Fisher is a professional cricketer. He is 17 years old.Certainly since Andrew Gale’s team won the County Championship last September and probably since England’s Under-19 team included five Yorkshire cricketers a year or so back, people have wondered what makes the county’s Academy special.That question became even more insistent on Tuesday night when Joe Root’s century and Adil Rashid’s all-round excellence helped England to overwhelm New Zealand at Edgbaston. Both Root and Rashid are Academy graduates.A couple of months previously, while some at Headingley were doubting the merit of England taking six Yorkshiremen on the recent West Indies tour but playing only two, others were predicting that before long Alex Lees, Jack Leaning et al would also be gaining representative honours. Lees and Leaning are also products of the Academy and there are plenty more where they came from.Yorkshire’s Academy is the elitism that dares to speak its name. Nobody complains about the cultivation of an elite in Yorkshire cricket. On the contrary, they demand it.Shaw Lane is perched on one of a succession of plateaux on the outskirts of Barnsley. While it may be the windiest non-coastal ground in England, it is also a classy venue and it hosts county second-team games. Outsiders make the connection with Geoffrey Boycott, Dickie Bird and Michael Parkinson but the Barnsley club also produced England internationals in Darren Gough, the former fast bowler turned sports broadcaster, and Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s director of cricket, among many others.On Saturday Fisher and his colleagues were returning to one of the heartlands of Yorkshire cricket to test themselves against a fine side. If they required a reminder of the standards required to remain on Yorkshire’s staff, they needed only to look at Barnsley’s team-sheet. It contained the name of Azeem Rafiq, once England Under-19 captain, once Yorkshire’s T20 skipper, once the next big thing. Rafiq was released last season, one of many who never quite made it. Fisher won the toss and decided to bat.

“Our job is to get rid of these lads as fast as we can. We want to get them either upwards, on to the professional staff, or outwards, because we feel that they are not going to be the right players for Yorkshire County Cricket Club”Richard Damms, head coach

It is after tea before Richard Damms, the head coach at the Academy, comes over to speak to me. He has just finished chatting on the phone with Moxon, Yorkshire’s director of cricket. These chats are frequent because Moxon keeps the closest of eyes on the Academy while still letting Damms, who is also a Barnsley lad, get on with his job.The game is not going well for Fisher’s team. They mustered only 199 for 9 in their 55 overs and Barnsley’s former first-team skipper and current groundsman, Gary Nuttall, reckons this will take a lot of defending, even on a rather tired pitch. Barnsley’s openers, Jonathon Trower and James Brown – the latter is also on Yorkshire’s books – have begun well.Damms talks about a structure that might be recognisable to other county coaches. He describes three tiers from the Emerging Players’ Programme up to Scholarship level and, finally, the Academy. “Our job is to get rid of these lads as fast as we can,” says Damms, who has been in the post since last winter’s coaching reorganisation, following Richard Dawson’s move to Gloucestershire. “We want to get them either upwards, on to the professional staff, or outwards, because we feel that they are not going to be the right players for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, although I hasten to add that a lot of them have successful careers at other counties.”We are sitting in one of the few sheltered spots at Shaw Lane. Around us are spectators who will have watched Moxon and Gough make their way in the game. In the middle, though, neither Fisher, who made his first-class debut at Worcester in April, nor Karl Carver, a slow left-armer who took his maiden Championship wickets against Warwickshire last season, have made a breakthrough.”This year we have Academy players in the Under-19 age-group down to Under-16 but we have signed players at Under-14,” said Damms. “I think we signed Joe Root at 13 or 14 because he’d just got something. Matthew Fisher signed Academy contract forms at 14 and now he’s a full professional at 17. I’ve never seen that in all my time in cricket.”The biggest advantage is the number of young lads playing cricket in Yorkshire,” he says, when pressed as to what makes the Academy special. “There are that many lads fighting for the same spots. Inevitably it raises standards and the Yorkshire members demand that we are producing us own. One of our mission statements as a club is ideally to win the Championship with eleven of us own.”That latter aim is one which Yorkshire has yet to achieve in modern times but it is interesting to hear Damms voice a goal which some might interpret as belonging to the era when you had to be born in Yorkshire to play for the county, a stipulation that would now disqualify both Leaning and Will Rhodes from wearing the White Rose. These days, though, it is upbringing that matters to many: there is no longer a need to make sure you give birth the right side of the border.”Our job is to facilitate opportunities and see who stands up and takes those opportunities and who, unfortunately, falls by the wayside,” Damms says. “Everything we do is competitive because we know how tough it is.”It’s also important to see that we are one club. Our Academy lads will be on first-name terms with our international players because they will spend time with them.”This ease with senior cricketers is important at Yorkshire although it is not so very long ago that county cricket was steeped in obsequiousness and deference. This is no longer the case. Not at Yorkshire anyway.Paul Farbrace, formerly Yorkshire’s 2nd XI coach, thinks a young player must look as if he belongs•Getty ImagesPaul Farbrace, England’s assistant coach, spent a productive period at Headingley, arriving via Kent and Sri Lanka before quickly departing to general regret.”I once asked Paul Farbrace, when he was coaching at Yorkshire, what he looked for in a young player coming into a first-team environment,” Damms says. “He said that he wanted him to look and act as if he belonged. Because if he didn’t, you’d only get a shadow of the cricket he is capable of producing.”If you can get one or two pushing for a professional contract out of every year’s intake, that’s fantastic. Last year we had five Academy lads playing for England Under-19s. This year we have two and next year we might have only one.”But the great thing is that these lads know that if they are good enough, they will get a chance. Matthew bowled that penultimate over against Lancashire last night and he said to us today that he’d learned more in one over than in the previous 12 months. If Galey picks them, he plays them. There’s no pecking order. We are one Yorkshire.”

My taxi driver knows I’ve been watching cricket. “Tell me this,” he says, “why couldn’t Bresnan nail his yorkers?”

But it is not a good day. Yorkshire’s Academy lose to Barnsley by eight wickets. The players shake hands. As my taxi draws up to take me back to the train station, Fisher and his players are going through their warm-downs. They seem to be applying themselves to the exercises just as assiduously as if they were preparing to play. Theirs is a professionalism which has nothing to do with money.Moxon and Damms have perhaps the deepest pool of players in the country. They are determined to make the most of it. It has always seemed that cricket is a part of Yorkshire life unequalled in any other county.During the New Zealand Test at Headingley, each journalist was given a tea mug. On one side was a village cricket scene. Pastoral kitsch? All Cricketers Great and Small? Maybe. Yet in the county’s very many strong cricket clubs, boys like Joe Root who have “got something” want to wear the White Rose almost as passionately as young New Zealanders want to be an All Black. And if they are good enough, they get the chance. Damms, Moxon and Gale see to it.We are driving back to the station. My taxi driver knows I’ve been watching cricket but not what I do for a living. “Tell me this,” he says, “why couldn’t Bresnan nail his yorkers last night?” I murmur something sympathetic. “Anyway,” he continues, “at least the weather forecast is good for the Middlesex match.”

Stats highlights from the first ODI between Bangladesh and South Africa in Mirpur.

Shiva Jayaraman10-Jul-20156/16 Kagiso Rabada’s bowling returns in this match – the best by a South Africa bowler in ODIs and by any debutant. Rabada’s effort bettered Makhaya Ntini’s 6 for 22 against Australia in 2006, which was South Africa’s best haul in an ODI before this. Before Rabada’s 6 for 16, Fidel Edwards’ 6 for 22 against Zimbabwe in 2003 was the best by an ODI debutant.1 Number of bowlers to have taken a hat-trick on debut in ODIs before Rabada. Taijul Islam got a hat-trick against Zimbabwe on his debut in December 2014. Rabada is also the fourth youngest bowler to take a hat-trick in ODIs, and the third South Africa bowler to achieve this after Charl Langeveldt and JP Duminy.4 Number of players younger than Rabada who have made their debut for South Africa in ODIs. At 20 years and 46 days he is the fifth-youngest player to make his debut for South Africa. Victor Mpitsang, who was 18 years and 314 days when he made his debut against West Indies in 1999, is the youngest.2 Instances where three of Bangladesh’s top four batsmen have been dismissed for a duck, including this match. The previous instance came against Sri Lanka in the 2003 World Cup when Chaminda Vaas dismissed Hannan Sarkar, Mohammad Ashraful and Ehsanul Haque for ducks. Like Rabada, Vaas too took a hat-trick on that occasion. Overall, out of nine such instances, six have involved Pakistan.1991 The last time a South Africa bowler took a five-for on ODI debut – Allan Donald took 5 for 29 against India. Rabada is only the second bowler from South Africa to achieve this. Overall, Rabada is the 11th bowler to take a five-for on debut.2034 Runs scored by Shakib Al Hasan in Mirpur – he is the first Bangladesh batsman to score 2000-plus runs at any venue. Shakib has made two hundreds and 17 fifties from 63 innings and averages 39.88 at this venue.9 Number of times, in 14 ODI innings, that Soumya Sarkar has got out without getting a fifty after scoring at least 20 runs. Only once has he failed to get a start, falling on 2 against Scotland in the World Cup. Sarkar has made 514 runs at an average of 39.53. He has hit one hundred and two fifties.16.91 Average runs scored by South Africa’s first wicket in 12 ODIs since their last century opening stand, which was a record 247-run partnership between Hashim Amla and Rilee Roussouw. After that partnership, 12 innings have produced all of 203 runs with a highest of 40.5 Fifty-plus scores by Faf du Plessis in his last ten ODI innings. He has scored 463 runs at an average of 57.87 with one century and four half-centuries.

England have not enjoyed consistent success at Test level since 2013 and these are some key areas that will decide if they can overcome Australia

George Dobell in Cardiff06-Jul-20155:40

Ashes Key Battles: Will spin play a part?

These are puzzling times in English cricket.While the drawn Test series in the Caribbean was hailed a “disaster” by one commentator, the drawn Test series at home against New Zealand was hailed “wonderful.”And while England’s limited-overs success against New Zealand was encouraging, it seems premature to label it a new age. It came, after all, against a side which, by the end, was without four of the first choice attack that took them to the World Cup final.It has been heartening to see the outpouring of support for England in recent weeks. To see grounds full – or all but full – for ODIs is one thing; to see crowds gripped by thrilling cricket – thrilling cricket – has been more heartening still. It has been many years – maybe as many as 10 – since the feel-good factor in English cricket has been so high.So it seems churlish to point out that this England side was humiliated in the World Cup only three or four months ago. It seems churlish to point out that the last Ashes series ended in a whitewash defeat and that only one of the last five Test series has been won.The truth is, this young England side has huge potential. But it is, as yet, unfulfilled.This Investec Ashes series may well come a little early in their development cycle. Many are still learning their way at this level: Jos Buttler has yet to make a Test century; Mark Wood and Adam Lyth have played only two Tests each and Joe Root and Gary Ballance, for all their excellence over the last 18-months, know that this is the opposition that will define them as Test players. Australia are favourites. It should not be doubted.But England can win. If they can find the consistency to complement the flashes of brilliance they have shown in recent times, if they can replicate the bravery of their talk with the audacity of their action.Here we look at the key areas where England need to perform if they are to win:CatchingIt is a dim memory now but, at the start of their World Cup campaign, Chris Woakes dropped Aaron Finch at square leg before he had scored. There was little in England’s cricket afterwards to suggest it was a defining moment, but who knows? Finch went on to score a century and the belief ebbed out of England.The point is, if England are going to have any chance of success in this series, they are going to have to take more catches than they have in recent months. At one stage against New Zealand, at Headingley, they missed three chances in eight balls. It seems unthinkable that England’s bowlers will create so many chances that such profligacy will go unpunished.The cordon behind the stumps has been most fallible of late. Buttler, for all his flair with the bat, remains a work in progress with the gloves, while Ian Bell endured a tough time against New Zealand.Evidence suggests England will retain faith in the same fielders in the same positions. If that leads to the same results, the Ashes will be lost.The pressure will be on Moeen Ali to tie down Australia’s batsmen•PA PhotosSpin bowlingBy the end of the series against India, it seemed Moeen Ali had won over his critics. His deceptively quick offspin, benefiting from lovely drift and sharp dip, proved effective against some of the best players of spin in the world and played a huge role in England coming from behind to take the series.A few months on, however, he is on trial again. Two modest Tests in the Caribbean and two more against New Zealand – albeit four modest Tests which realised a far from disastrous 11 wickets at an average of 41.63 – and he is again finding himself described as a “part time” bowler. Ironically, the man who many suggest as his replacement – Adil Rashid – has bowled fewer overs and taken fewer wickets at a higher average than Moeen in first-class cricket since the start of 2012. England are not over burdened with spin bowling choices at present.Still, Moeen will have to bowl far better than he managed in those four Tests if England are to prevail. If he drops as short as he did in Barbados, he will be hit out of the attack and England will be stuck with four right-arm seamers and little hope of capitalising on worn surfaces. If he rediscovers the consistency and bite he found against India, he will cause damage. So far this summer, he has struggled to keep an end tight.Either way, he will be given plenty of opportunity. Not only will Australia come at him – they appear to see him as a weak link – but they will probably play two left-arm seamers in their side, which should create rough outside the right-handers off stump to encourage both Moeen and Nathan Lyon.How Moeen fares will go a long way towards deciding the fate of the Ashes.Alastair CookCook has played five series against Australian. In one of them he averaged 127; in the other four, he averaged a maximum of 27. He appears to be back to his best in recent Tests, but the Australia attack represents a sterner challenge.How he comes through it will have a huge bearing on the series. If England’s largely young middle-order is to be given the best chance to prosper, they require some protection from the new ball and some foundations on which to build.With an inexperienced opening partner in Lyth, a No. 3 with some questions to answer in Ballance and a No. 4, in Bell, who is coming into this series on the back of some low scores, there is need for Cook to score heavily if the stroke-makers are to be given a decent chance.PitchesThere has been much talk about the positive cricket England are going to play of late. And that is all well and good: they have a side that, in several cases – Buttler, Moeen, Wood, Stokes – would appear to be at its best when it playing aggressively.But all such talk will be meaningless if the sides are not given the chance to play attractive cricket by the surfaces. If, as feared, the surfaces are low, slow and flat it will not only negate the Australian pace bowlers, it will negate the England ones and the batsmen of both sides who like the ball coming on to the bat. It will make it almost impossible to play bright, positive cricket and reduce this series – like the one in 2013 – to a war of attrition.That’s okay. But if England really are committed to the aggressive approach we keep hearing about, they need to convey that message to the groundsmen.All the evidence suggests that the pitch in Cardiff will be slow, flat and – though the authorities deny it – designed to ensure five days of ticket sales. It would be a betrayal of England’s ethos if so.New ballJames Anderson and Stuart Broad will have to use to new ball effectively if England are to win. In recent times, the first new ball has often been squandered as the pair ease their way into games. Perhaps wearied from previous exertions, perhaps saving themselves for future ones, the pair have often bowled at a relatively gentle pace early on and then sought to pick up the pace when they sense key phases of the match.While such an approach is understandable – no two seamers have bowled more in international cricket since 2010 – it runs the risk of allowing batsmen to settle against them.Both men have tended to bowl back of a good length in recent times, too. While such a tactic has a place – especially when the wicket is flat and the intent is to frustrate batsmen – when the ball is new and conditions at their most helpful, Broad and Anderson have to force the batsmen to play more often by bowling deliveries that would hit the top of the stumps.Wood and Stokes are exciting talents who could well change a game or two in this series. But it seems likely that, if England are to win the Ashes, either Anderson or Broad will have to be their side’s top wicket taker.

The strength of Yorkshire cricket, based around a generation of homegrown players, runs deep – nowhere is that expressed more clearly than in the evergreen Ryan Sidebottom

Tim Wigmore at Lord's09-Sep-2015At 3.06pm Yorkshire secured their 32nd outright County Championship. They had not managed it at Headingley, but being champions at Lord’s would certainly do. Once again the Tykes were the envy of the rest of the country.Partly this is the story of an outstanding team. But it is also a tale of an enduring cricket culture that continues to thrive. There are 747 clubs in the county – more than in Australia. About 120,000 people play cricket every weekend, a greater number than in New Zealand.”It’s a very traditional part of Yorkshire life, cricket. There’s a lot of participation, more than anywhere else in the country, so we have a bigger base to choose from but we’ve still got to produce,” cricket director Martyn Moxon said. “The pathway system we have is working. It’s a lot of hard work at age-group level. We can’t underestimate the work that the age-group coaches do – a lot of them volunteers. That’s where the process starts. Every cricketer starts at school level so the work that’s done from Under-11 through to academy age group is vital.”Pleasingly we’re starting to get some success back – we’ve had a few barren years over the last 20 or 30 years but now we’re starting to get a bit more sustained success.”It has the feel of success built to last. Consider the obstacles Yorkshire have overcome in 2015. Captain Andrew Gale was suspended for the opening game of the season. Six players were selected by England for their tour of the West Indies. The indispensable Ryan Sidebottom suffered a hamstring injury as well, only managing one game before mid-June.Few other sides could have survived such impediments. Yorkshire not only survived but thrived. They are unbeaten in 2015, and have amassed a formidable run of 26 Championship games without defeat, extending all the way back to Lord’s last April, when Middlesex chased down 472. Such feats are required to topple this side.”When history gets written in a few years time, I think this lot will also be bracketed with the greats of the 60s. I said last year that this is a golden era for Yorkshire cricket. The foundations have been laid for success,” the chief executive, Mark Arthur, said. “While you can’t guarantee success because of the vagaries of sport, I do genuinely believe the structure is there and is right. The players now know how to win. Knowing how to win, as I’m sure the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Brian Clough would tell you, is almost as important as having the ability to win.”Talk of building a dynasty is not trite. Since Jason Gillespie become Yorkshire coach four years ago, the club has lost only three of 61 County Championship matches. The side fully expects that next year they will become the first county to win a hat-trick of titles since Yorkshire, naturally, last managed the feat in 1968.Until 1992, Yorkshire did not allow players born from beyond the county borders to wear the White Rose. At times since they have desisted dramatically from this philosophy, but their back-to-back Championship triumphs have come with a side built upon players reared in Yorkshire. Seven of the side who secured the title against Middlesex were born in the county, as were Jonny Bairstow, Liam Plunkett (though he came through Durham’s youth system), Adil Rashid and Joe Root.”The emphasis should be on homegrown players,” Sidebottom said. “Having individuals from your club homegrown means a great deal. Yorkshire are making big strides in doing it.”So, for all of Gillespie’s influence, consecutive Championship gongs are an achievement for Yorkshire and made in Yorkshire. And it was apt that Sidebottom propelled Yorkshire to the three bonus points that, together with Nottinghamshire’s collapse, ensured they would retain the title.In Sidebottom it is possible to detect the very essence of Yorkshire cricket. It runs in the blood – his father, Arnie, was a notable Yorkshire cricketer too. Rows sometimes happen – a contractual dispute led Sidebottom to a seven-year hiatus at Nottinghamshire. But never was Sidebottom happier than at Headingley.How he has proved as much. Since returning five years ago, Sidebottom’s second Yorkshire career has now yielded 229 wickets at 20.68 apiece. The notion he is getting better with age is backed up by an average of under 20 in his last three seasons, which plummets to just 15.71 for his 39 wickets in 2015.The first morning at Lord’s was made for Sidebottom. Critically, Gale won the toss; a combination of cloudy skies, the 10.30am start and the knowledge he could call upon Sidebottom’s skills rendered his decision to bowl an easy one.Still, no one could have envisaged how lethal Sidebottom’s contribution would be when he bowled the first over of the match. After two deliveries across Paul Stirling, Sidebottom’s third ball swung back, scythed through his tepid defence and compelled the umpire to give an lbw. His fifth delivery lifted late outside off stump, and implored Nick Compton to edge behind. Best of all was his sixth delivery, which moved back enough to uproot Dawid Malan’s off stump. While it lay shattered on the floor, Sidebottom was engulfed in a violent Yorkshire huddle and Middlesex were left to reflect on the debris of a score of 0 for 3. Soon after, debutant Stevie Eskinazi nicked Sidebottom to Adam Lyth, one of the Yorkshiremen prowling in the slips, lurking with gleeful intent like a tribute to the domineering Australia sides of Gillespie’s day.Any stragglers accustomed to the normal 11 o’clock start arrived with Neil Dexter, Middlesex’s No. 6, already at the crease. The sight of second-placed Middlesex being eviscerated on their home turf was a symbol of the gulf between Yorkshire and the rest. And there is no intention of let-up. “There’s too much personal ambition in this team,” Gale said, turning his sights on Sussex’s Division One record of 257 points in 2003. “We want to get the record wins and record points – we don’t just want to go past that record points, we want to blast it so it’s there for a number of years.”Amid the bedlam it felt almost incidental that Sidebottom surpassed 700 first-class wickets. Within a few hours another number provided a better distillation of Sidebottom’s enduring worth over 19 first-class season: five. That is the number of County Championships he has now won, a record unmatched by any current player.As he runs in, shaggy of hair but relentless in his line and length and generating swing, it was evident that his zest and deep-rooted competitiveness are undimmed. That the day ended with Sidebottom the batsman nonchalantly rolling his wrists and pulling for four, a shot no Middlesex player had the temerity to even contemplate against his bowling, merely emphasised how age has not diluted Sidebottom’s qualities.Sidebottom will be 38 by the time next season begins, but happily has already signed a contract to play in 2016. He will go on. On this evidence so, too, will Yorkshire.