Siddle also attributes the development of T20 cricket to lower-order batters moving away from the “basics of hanging in there”

Alex Malcolm13-Jun-2023When Peter Siddle walked out to bat at Edgbaston in 2019, he had some prescient words ringing in his ears from none other than Steve Waugh.Australia were perilously placed at 122 for 8 on the opening day of the Ashes series on the brink of a disastrous loss from which there may have been no return. Siddle joined Steven Smith, who was unbeaten on 42, begging for someone to stay with him.Waugh, who had been brought in as a consultant for the tour by then coach Justin Langer, had had a quiet word to the bowlers the previous day.Related

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“He spoke to all the bowlers, not so much about what we can do with our bowling, but how valuable we can be with contributions with the bat throughout the series,” Siddle told ESPNcricinfo. “And that was literally the day before that first Test.”He spoke about hanging out there, especially if there’s a batter there, just hanging with him and ticking the runs over, rotating the strike.”Waugh’s chat had also come hot on the heels of a similar speech from then-Australia assistant coach Brad Haddin, who had pulled all the bowlers aside at the now infamous cut-throat pre-tour intra-squad match at Southampton and told them that there would be a huge focus on their batting at training on the tour because lower-order contributions would be vital.”Hads [Haddin] has always been a big one on that, obviously with him being a keeper batting at seven through his career, a lot of his batting tended to be with the lower order,” Siddle said.”It’s always been a big emphasis for him to have those batters around him. So there’s always a strong focus and he was one of the coaches that would be willing to stay around and keep working with you to get that extra hit in knowing how important it was to him when he played, but how important it was just in general for the team to push that total up a little bit more.”The speeches and the added batting work paid dividends immediately. Siddle, not for the first time in his 11-year Test career, contributed a vital 85-ball 44 in an 88-run stand with Smith. Nathan Lyon then batted for another hour at No. 11, helping Smith race past his century and add 74 for the final wicket to help Australia post 284 after winning the toss.They would still concede a first-innings lead, but it was only 90, before Smith and Matthew Wade made second-innings hundreds and James Pattinson smashed an unbeaten 47 at No. 8 to help set up a victory that would put them on course to retain the Ashes.Mitchell Starc would also make an unbeaten 54 at No. 9 in Australia’s only other win of the series at Old Trafford, sharing a 51-run stand with Smith who made 211, and adding 59 more with Lyon to help Australia post a match-winning total of 497 for 8 declared.Fast forward nearly four years and Starc’s 41 in the World Test Championship final at the Oval on Sunday was just the second 40-plus score by an Australian bowler in a Test match since his half-century at Old Trafford. Australia’s Nos. 8-11 have contributed just four 40-plus scores in four years, with two of them belonging to Alex Carey when he twice slid to No.8 after the use of a nightwatcher. The only other 40-plus score by a bowler came from Todd Murphy in Ahmedabad this year.Only Ireland and Afghanistan’s tails have made fewer 40-plus contributions in that time, having played just four and three Test matches, respectively.In the 2021-22 Ashes, Starc did make four important scores of 35, 39 not out, 24 not out and 34 not out in the first four Tests. But aside from that, it has been slim pickings. And the lack of contribution from Australia’s tail compared to their opponents has been a decisive factor in the only five losses Australia have suffered in that time, four of which came at the hands of India who possess the strongest batting tail in the world.Australia’s bowlers did face the challenge of barely being required to bat in the last home summer against West Indies and South Africa to being asked to score runs in the most extreme of conditions in India, which also exposed their specialist batters.Pat Cummins averages 11.71 with the bat in Tests since January 2019•Associated PressBut the gradual decline of the batting contributions of Australia’s main four bowlers is cause for concern and has been noted within the Australian camp. Just like in 2019, there was an emphasis put on Australia’s bowlers getting plenty of batting work in at the pre-departure camp in Brisbane with Starc’s return at the Oval an early dividend.But the question remains why the extra batting work isn’t a constant. It is one of the challenges in the modern era, where the management of bowlers’ training loads has become a top priority to the point where they do have full rest days from optional sessions, whereas some of Australia’s premier batters in Smith and Marnus Labuschagne will almost always bat on those optional days.The opposite is true for Australia’s batters with their bowling. Smith and Labuschagne both began their Test careers as better-than-part-time legspinners capable of making breakthroughs and holding an end to ease the burden on the frontline bowlers. But both have focussed so heavily on their batting that their legspin has fallen by the wayside, to the point where both have been bowling part-time offspin in first-class cricket recently. The only difference is that batters do not have to bowl in Test matches, but bowlers always have to bat.”It is tough,” Siddle said. “At the end of the day, we are bowlers, we’ve got to be ready and prepared as well as we can to do our first job which is to bowl and take wickets in that Test match, so it always does take precedence getting that work done.”Most bowlers really love batting. That’s probably the most fun part of the game that we have in Test matches. Everything else is hard work.”But it does take up a lot of time and I think if you’re batting at the end of a training session, you’re tired, you’ve been there for a few hours, the motivation can be low.”But it’s definitely something that I’ve noticed a lot more that tail-enders, lower-order batters do a hell of a lot more batting and there’s a lot more time and effort put into it than when I first started playing.”One thing Australian coaches have found difficult is allocating time and resources to improving the bowlers’ batting. Batters are facing more balls than ever in the nets leaving the coaches who throw balls exhausted by the time the bowlers are ready to bat.It was noticeable at times during Australia’s recent tour of India how often bowlers were left to bat unsupervised against net bowlers when they arguably need more specialised coaching, more volume, and a greater focus on batting fundamentals if they are going to survive and contribute to key partnerships in games. That is where Siddle thinks some lateral thinking and personal responsibility need to kick in.”Definitely, that’s probably the biggest issue,” Siddle said. “The batters do take up a lot of time and coaches get tired.”I think it’s just finding the right moments to get that extra work in. Sometimes, it’s not at the end of sessions because the fatigue on everyone is so great because the session has been long.”I think it’s about getting the opportunities and sometimes the best ones were during Test matches. Once the batting innings starts, if the facilities are available, getting out to the nets with the batting coach during the game…I think sometimes they were some of the best sessions that I had. You can get out and focus a bit better, knowing that you’re going to bat at some stage either that day or the next. That last little top-up session was very valuable.”One other major challenge facing bowlers globally, and Australia’s bowlers in particular, is the development of T20 batting. Bowlers who are multiformat players, as all three of Australia’s main quicks are, can add millions to their T20 franchise value if they can power-hit.

“Most bowlers really love batting. That’s probably the most fun part of the game that we have in Test matches. Everything else is hard work. “Peter Siddle

In January 2019 Pat Cummins was averaging 21.12 in Test cricket having just made his second half-century against India. He was also facing an average of 45 balls per Test innings, which was part of the reason he was elevated in front of Starc in the order 12 months earlier, with Starc facing an average of just 26 balls per Test innings for 21.44 runs per dismissal, even though Starc had seven more half-centuries including a Test 99.At the same time, Cummins wasn’t a regular in Australia’s T20 side and was averaging 14.09 in T20 cricket with the bat, striking at just 124.A greater emphasis on honing his power-hitting skills since that point has seen Cummins average 21.05 in his last 59 T20 innings, striking at 152.67 with three half-centuries, helping his IPL auction price go through the roof.Over the same period, Cummins has not passed 40 once in 40 Test innings and has averaged just 11.71. He has now moved back behind Starc in the order.”The format changes have brought this dilemma for batters in general but more so probably tail-enders and I think the new generation of player tends to be more of a power-hitter in the way they play anyway,” Siddle said.”Obviously, Pat and Mitch are players that have developed their game around both different formats.”The new generation, they’re learning how to be power-hitters first. As the years go by and there’s more T20 cricket played, the lower-order players want to be able to whack the ball and clear the ropes and they’re going away a little bit from the basics of hanging in there, having a good solid defence, keeping everything tight and valuing your wicket.”

Following in the wake of an enthralling Ashes, can the much-maligned competition seize its moment?

Matt Roller01-Aug-2023Twenty hours and 34 minutes after Alex Carey edged Stuart Broad to Jonny Bairstow, and 110 miles north, Smriti Mandhana pushed Alexa Stonehouse down the ground to kick the third season of the Hundred into gear.There was not a spare seat at the Kia Oval on Monday evening, but Trent Bridge was only half-full when the official attendance of 8,821 was counted, midway through the run chase of the women’s game. A one-sided away win made for a subdued start to the season.The ground filled up after working hours, with many fans kitted out in Trent Rockets yellow; the eventual 12,402 crowd roared in celebration as Daniel Sams had Tymal Mills lbw on review, pinning him on the boot with seven required off the last two balls. This was the tight finish that the tournament needed.Related

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Like it or loathe it, the Hundred is back. The competition’s past, present and future have been discussed incessantly since long before its inception and the debate will rage on over the next four-and-a-half weeks. The last-minute withdrawal of Rashid Khan, the competition’s highest-profile overseas player, has heightened its existential crisis.Rashid pulled out on Monday afternoon, citing an unspecified injury. “It’s obviously disappointing not to have him but we’ve not had him too much anyway,” Lewis Gregory, Rockets’ captain, sighed at the toss. “I think he was only around for two games last year.”His replacement, Imad Wasim, and Southern Brave’s Tim David both arrived on the morning of the game, having played against one another in the final of Major League Cricket (MLC) in Dallas on Sunday night. “Nice to be here in Blighty,” David said on the player mic, after Alex Hales drilled one past him at cover. “It’s a little bit overcast, isn’t it?”All six overseas players involved in the opening men’s game flew in from North America: Finn Allen, Devon Conway and Sams were at MLC with Imad and David, while Colin Munro squeezed in a jaunt at the Global T20 Canada after the end of the Blast. Hales was among his opponents in Canada; Mills returned from the Zim Afro T10 on Saturday morning.The late arrivals and short preparation period have underlined the sense that for most players, the Hundred is just another stop on the gravy train – a stop that is no longer as competitive financially as it used to be, with MLC offering them more money for less work.For the domestic players that underpin the tournament, that is not the case. Sam Hain, who top-scored for Rockets on Tuesday night, has spent a decade churning out county runs without convincing England’s selectors that he is worth a punt in any format. Spending a season on the bench with first Manchester Originals, then Welsh Fire, did little to twist their arm.”I’ve not had a lot of exposure in 100-ball cricket,” Hain said. “I’m still trying to get the feel and rhythm of it. I get nervous before every game, but I think nerves are good. It means you care. This is the best cricketers in the country, all going toe-to-toe.”Sam Hain caught the eye with a half-century•ECB via Getty ImagesThe Hundred offers him the stage that the Blast – where only a fraction of the 133 matches are televised – does not, and his innovative innings of 63 off 39 balls not only rescued the defending champions from 54 for 5, but will have piqued the interest of ECB scouts and England’s white-ball management.And in the women’s competition, there are newly-professional cricketers pinching themselves. Mary Taylor, an 18-year-old seamer, took 3 for 18 on Brave debut, having only previously played regional cricket. “The crowds are hugely different,” she said. “I love the noise and the crowd: it gets me buzzing. I’m so happy.”Yet there is still a lingering sense that, as the competition enters its third season, nobody quite knows who the Hundred is for. And yet, with no England fixtures – men’s or women’s – scheduled during the competition’s August window, there is also an opportunity for the Hundred to harness what Ben Stokes called “the craze around cricket”.The reality, as Rashid has proved, is that the status quo is not quite good enough. Salaries will have to increase next season, and recruitment refined to encourage teams to sign marquee names. However much the ECB deny it publicly, some form of private investment is inevitable.In 2005, the final day of the Ashes summer took place on September 12; the only cricket left in the English summer was the fag-end of a County Championship season and a couple of rounds of Sunday League games. By the time the 2006 summer started, the game had retreated behind a paywall.This year, dual Ashes series have pricked public consciousness, with record viewing and listening figures on Sky and Test Match Special; the ECB says Hundred ticket sales have surged over the last six weeks. For all the criticism over the men’s Ashes schedule, it was perfectly sandwiched between two football seasons and has dominated newspaper back pages since mid-June.Whatever its merits or drawbacks, a competition featuring regular free-to-air games starting the very next day presents the sport with a rare opportunity to seize its moment.English cricket has been here before, and let similar moments slip. Can the sport afford the Hundred to fail?

Positivity, diversity, respect for opponents, and a captain who quietly puts his head down to get the job done have all been part of the story

Firdose Moonda08-Jul-20232:08

How Netherlands beat the odds to qualify for ODI World Cup

Around the time that cricket was considered a major sport in the Netherlands – the 1860s – one of the main methods of transportation in the country’s capital, Amsterdam, was by boat. So when Ryan Cook was looking for a team activity ahead of the World Cup Qualifiers, he rolled back the years and took his charges to the canals”We were in rowing boats and in teams of fours and it was a nightmare. For the first 15 minutes I was like, ‘Get me off this boat, I don’t know how to do it.’ We were terrible,” Max O’Dowd said at the team’s Harare hotel ahead of the World Cup Qualifier final. “But by the end of it, we kind of got the flow and once we got going, it was alright.”The lesson, of course, was about working together to move forward and it’s something the Dutch were reminded of before their most important game of the current campaign, against Scotland. “Cookie got us all little oars and we had to write our name on it and what we were going to bring to the team. The morning of the Scottish game, Bassie (Bas de Leede) wrote, ‘Something special.’ And then he took five wickets and scored 100, so that was pretty special.”Related

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As for O’Dowd, he wrote “comfort”, because “I just wanted the guys to come chat to me or whatever, because everyone used the classics like ‘energy’ or ‘100%’ and all that kind of stuff. And I thought I will do something different.”In the end, the only people who needed comfort were the Scots, who have come close at a second successive qualifying campaign but remain just as far from the ODI World Cup. After their victory, the Dutch were so acutely aware of the pain their opposition was feeling that when they returned to their hotel, where Scotland were also staying, they reminded themselves not to make too much happy noise until they were out of earshot. The celebrations resumed in the team room but publicly, the commiserations continue. “There were four other teams at this tournament who should be going to the World Cup as well,” O’Dowd said.The Netherlands players have tried their hands at rowing – to good effect•KNCBO’Dowd was referring to the entire Super Six contingent, which also included Oman, the hosts Zimbabwe and two-time former champions West Indies, who will miss out on the World Cup for the first time and whose tournament was ultimately derailed when they lost to the Dutch. Chasing 375, Netherlands tied in fifty-overs and prevailed in the one that mattered: the Super Over. “We believe we can beat a lot of big teams. But when a team scores over 370, you know you are going to have to do something pretty special to knock it off,” O’Dowd said. “We have a mental coach who does a lot of work with us. And he was talking about luck and magic. Magic is something that you can’t control and I don’t think it was magic. I think it was a little bit of luck here and there. And then that just spurred us on the rest of the tournament.”While West Indies were guilty of dropped catches, sloppy fielding and a tactical blunder in the Super Over, the Dutch also created their own luck with electrifying running between the wickets to take small bites out of an elephantine target. Running twos has been a hallmark of their approach to this qualifier.They have run 155 of them, more than any other team, and there’s a reason that goes beyond simply putting the opposition under pressure. “Running is such a funny thing because there’s so many times in ODI cricket where you knock one down to long-off or you hit one into the cover sweeper, and you kind of just jog that first one. And then the next ball is just not as energised,” O’Dowd said. “We’re sprinting from ball one. Even if you nick it to [short] third or you hit it straight to mid-off, even if you know it’s one, we’re trying to create that energy.”

“You can’t go wrong with Scottie. He has been amazing, very calm, and works extremely hard. And he isn’t glamorous. He just puts his head down and works and doesn’t really thrive off negativity. He really only focuses on positives.”Max O’Dowd on his captain Scott Edwards

That attitude starts at the top. Scott Edwards has led this vibrant style of play and is what O’Dowd describes as the “epitome” of the Dutch game. “You can’t go wrong with Scottie. He has been amazing, very calm, and works extremely hard. And he isn’t glamorous. He just puts his head down and works and doesn’t really thrive off negativity. He really only focuses on positives. And that’s really important,” O’Dowd said. “In the past, or with other teams I’ve been involved in, something negative can fester and it gets bigger and bigger and then, all of a sudden, it becomes quite a big talking point. Whereas now if we spot something negative, we might acknowledge it but then we just move on from it. Scott is very good at that. A working-class man is what I call Scotty. That’s the way I describe him and I think he’s been really good for us.”At an event with high-performing leaders like Shai Hope, whose team have failed to emulate his consistency, unbeaten skippers like Dasun Shanaka and inspirational characters like Richie Berrington and Craig Ervine, Edwards, who is soft-spoken, may not immediately stand out. But watch him on the field, and there’s a quiet intensity to the way he controls the team and he is happy to leave the rest to the extroverts, of which O’Dowd is one.He is a favourite of the Zimbabwe Cricket Supporters’ Union for the special interest he has taken in one of their songs. It’s a Castle Corner anthem about drinking (of the alcoholic variety) but it’s the tune, not the words, that O’Dowd took to. “The first time I came here I heard some people singing something in the background, and I didn’t make much of it. And then we came back for the recent series, I was on the field more this time and they were singing the song. It was just the catchiest song I’d ever heard. Our local liaison told us about the song and it’s kind of caught on. I happened to be humming it as we arrived in Zimbabwe this time, because I just love it,” he said. “Some guy on Twitter was filming me and that kind of went viral within the Castle Corner community. Every time I’m down in that corner, now they sing the song and I love it. I don’t know the words, but I know how it goes.”

Netherlands batter Max O'Dowd sings a popular Zimbabwe Cricket Supporter Union (ZCSU), also known as Castle Corner, song as they head to their bus. pic.twitter.com/hApkdB8owR

— The Chronicle (@ChronicleZim) June 11, 2023

The itinerant batter has made a splash in three leagues and thrown his hat in the ring for more – a journey he hopes will lead to an England cap

Matt Roller16-Dec-2023It was the week that laid bare how franchise leagues have changed cricket for good. Monday: open the batting for Sharjah Warriors. Tuesday: fly to Dhaka. Wednesday: debut for Rangpur Riders. Thursday: off. Friday: second game for Rangpur. Saturday: fly to Karachi to link up with Peshawar Zalmi.”It was nice to be wanted,” laughs Tom Kohler-Cadmore, reflecting on the whistle-stop tour of South Asia that saw him represent three different teams in four matches across nine days last February. “Ideally you’d be part of a team the whole way through a tournament: in Bangladesh, I met everyone and then went, ‘Oh, bye, I’m off again.'”I just love playing cricket,” he says over a Zoom call from Abu Dhabi, the first stop on another winter overseas, which will also take him back to the UAE, Pakistan, and maybe beyond. “If there’s an opportunity to go somewhere and prove what I can do, I want to take it. The experiences you gain from playing in different conditions has helped me round my game.”It means living out of a suitcase and in hotels for much of the year. “Most tournaments are about a month. When you start to get that little bit of fatigue, you look up and you might be two games from the knockouts. Then you move to a new franchise, and there might be guys you already know and you get an energy lift… it goes by pretty quickly.”A generation ago, an uncapped 29-year-old English cricketer would have spent the off season hoping for a spot on an England A tour, or failing that, playing grade cricket in Australia. A generation before that, county contracts tended to span the six summer months: winters meant finding some form of alternative employment.”Before, you’d go and try to score a load of runs in grade cricket, or rock up in March for pre-season and hope it goes well,” Kohler-Cadmore says. “When I started, you’d be lucky to have two good overseas players sign for your county that you could learn from. It’s making me a better cricketer – and it’s an opportunity most people would die for.”He has spent the last three weeks sharing a dressing room with Andre Russell and Trent Boult, and opening the batting alongside Nicholas Pooran in the Abu Dhabi T10. “You seem to pick up little snippets in every competition you play in. You’re constantly evolving, understanding different viewpoints and adding things to your own game.”Kohler-Cadmore’s franchise, Deccan Gladiators, missed out on a third consecutive title with defeat in Sunday’s final, but he was the leading run-scorer, with over 100 runs more than his nearest competitor. Only Pooran has been more prolific in the tournament’s nascent history.Kohler-Cadmore (right) moved to Somerset from Yorkshire in 2023, where he won the T20 Blast title in his first season•Getty ImagesSeven years into its existence, T10 remains a fringe format. Most games are played to a backdrop of empty seats at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in the Abu Dhabi desert, the relationships between teams and the geographical locators in their names are tenuous, and it is difficult to pin down the market that the tournament is serving.But cricketers look forward to playing in it – and not exclusively for the pay packet. “It almost feels like you’re playing cricket as a child again: you’re just going out there and you’re just trying to hit the ball as hard and as far as you can,” Kohler-Cadmore says. “Last year I definitely took it into my T20 game. It is just that clear mind which gives you so much confidence.”I’d had a couple of T10 seasons where I’d done well and thought, ‘Hang on a minute, I’m averaging 30 and striking at over 200. Why don’t I just do that?’ It’s benefited me in other formats. When I walk out to bat, I try to simplify everything, go to my strengths and react to the ball. It clears your mind a little bit.”Batting with Pooran has informed that simplicity. “The rest of the West Indies power-hitters are all six-plus feet and hit the ball miles. Nicky’s not as stacked but his swing is the purest I’ve seen. If you bowl near his hip, it’s six over square leg; if you bowl outside off, he whacks you over extra cover; if you’re a bit short, he carves you over point.”The itinerant nature of Kohler-Cadmore’s winters – he hopes that the next few weeks might bring a replacement deal in the Big Bash, and has put himself forward for Tuesday’s IPL auction – stands in stark contrast to his new life in Somerset. He moved southwest last winter after leaving Yorkshire, and won the T20 Blast in his first full season with the club.”Taunton is quiet at the best of times, but it’s lovely down there and the boys make it a really special place. You spend so much time together that they become your best mates, not just work colleagues. Ever since I was at Worcestershire, Finals Day was such a big thing… winning the Blast was definitely the highlight of my career so far.”England have noticed Kohler-Cadmore’s form – both at home and overseas – and he was a late call-up to the second-string ODI squad that faced Ireland in September, though he remains uncapped. “It’s my dream to play for England,” he says. “I’ll do anything I can to keep trying to push my case.”At 29, he would be relatively old by the standards of most international debutants. “You want to be ready to perform. Instead of being a young, talented player but not really sure of everything, I’m in a good place that if I did get a call, I’d be ready to go and actually make an impact straight away; I would fully expect myself to be a match-winner.”

As they come to terms with another World Cup heartbreak, India may wonder if their middle order could have taken a few more chances

Sidharth Monga19-Nov-20233:38

‘We kept losing wickets at critical intervals’

Rohit Sharma looked like he was trying to hold back tears. Mohammed Siraj couldn’t. Jasprit Bumrah, who doesn’t let results sway his emotions, consoled him. KL Rahul sank to his knees. Virat Kohli hid his face in his cap. Mohammed Shami walked back dejected.The spirit had left them.It hurts. The ones who will not play another World Cup will be hurting even more. The morning after will be even worse. It is good they have their families with them. There’s more to life than a World Cup. They will need that reinforced come Monday morning when there is no training to go to. The ones who don’t have families with them will need their team-mates to do the reinforcing for them.Related

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That is the cruel nature of a league-knockout hybrid format. It will hurt India more than any team knocked out earlier in the tournament. That’s the price you pay: to fight for the biggest joy, you must risk the biggest heartbreak. It will hurt them more than it can hurt anyone on the outside.All those runs and wickets will feel empty, just like the seats emptied by people who had moved on to more mundane things like avoiding traffic jams well before the last ball had been bowled. All the joy and the noise they had bathed in for a month-and-a-half suddenly gave way to a hollow hum. Rohit scored more runs than any captain ever has in one tournament. Kohli scored more than any batter ever has. Shami was the highest wicket-taker despite not playing four matches. These facts mean nothing to them in the moment.However, in a cricket world with so much professionalism, with the top-three sides having equal access to knowledge, facilities, technology and talent, it is still rare that you can beat the conditions. In the league match against Australia, India were on the right side of the conditions. In the final, they lost to the conditions.The many faces of despair – India’s World Cup dream goes up in smoke•Getty ImagesAn example of how much the pitch changed is how often Marnus Labuschagne dabbed the ball gently behind square for singles; those easy singles hadn’t been available to India. The pitch had been so slow in the afternoon that there was risk involved in manipulating the bat face to pick up singles once the field spread out and the ball became old. Kohli was dismissed in exactly this manner, inside-edging Pat Cummins on to his stumps.If Rohit’s words at the toss – he said he would have batted first had he won it – actually reflected the team management’s thoughts (sometimes a captain’s words can be just a front), it would be fair to say India misread the conditions. That didn’t matter because Australia won the toss, and they decided to play a different game.India expected the pitch to keep getting slower and offer more turn, which happened in the Kolkata semi-final. They hoped they could capitalise on the brittleness of Australia’s chasing.Australia went by recent trends. During this World Cup, batting has consistently become easier under the lights in Ahmedabad. They banked on the pattern continuing, and expected a drier-than-usual pitch to be at its most difficult in the afternoon. They wanted to exploit India’s relative weakness on slow pitches.The second ball he faced from Josh Hazlewood, who had dismissed him in the teams’ league meeting, Rohit charged and crashed the ball through the covers for four. Rohit was playing the World Cup final like it should have been: just another game. All through the tournament, he had made it easy for India’s middle order by scoring quicker than anyone else in the first powerplay.5:24

Dravid: ‘We gave it everything we had’

It was even more important that Rohit did it here. Kohli got off to a great start too. Having seen Shubman Gill get out early, Kohli stuck to the team plan and ditched the risk-free game that had brought him 700-plus runs in the tournament. He took a risk off the ninth ball he faced, dragging Mitchell Starc over wide mid-on. It wasn’t a perfect shot, but Kohli knew he needed to take that chance during the powerplay.With the ball, India had their early plans spot-on. They got Shami to open the bowling because of his superior numbers against left-hand batters. They would have been pleasantly surprised by the help Bumrah and Shami got but that zip and that movement came at a cost. In the evening, as it most noticeably happened for New Zealand against England in the tournament-opener, the pitch had quickened up, and the ball gripped much less.Once Australia weathered the early storm, once the movement died down, only a genius delivery from Bumrah, a final reminder of the magic India have created through this tournament, got them a wicket, that of Steven Smith with a viciously dipping slower one. The rest of the story we have heard before in many a chase in India. Would India have won at the Wankhede 12 years ago had there been no dew?There will of course be a review within the team. Perhaps Rahul could have been braver through the middle overs. Kohli has the game to keep scoring at the strike rate of 80 to 90 without having to hit boundaries. Kohli got a delivery that lifted on that slow pitch and got big on him. On another day the inside edge could have run past the leg stump. Not in this final.Others have to take risks. It is no rocket science why Rahul didn’t take risks. India’s batting is shallow. I have asked the coaches on more than one occasion at press conferences how the batters have reacted to India not having any batting after No. 7. Particularly now their outlook to risk has changed. The coaches have maintained that they don’t even want to think about it because the top seven are good enough to do the job. It didn’t look like that at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.1:37

‘Rohit and Kohli stood up for India in every moment – Anil Kumble

They will look back at just the nine boundary attempts in 180 legal balls in the middle overs and wonder if that was sufficient. It meant India scored just four boundaries outside the first powerplay, the joint-lowest in any ODI since 2005. On a slower pitch, bowlers do have a larger margin for error, but only India can answer if they couldn’t have tried to push the bowlers off their lengths a little harder.It is not like no batting lower down the order was a selection error. What Shardul Thakur brings at No. 8 is often notional. There is no reason to believe Siraj doesn’t offset that notional depth with what he brings with the ball as compared to Thakur. The problem is, none of India’s first-choice bowlers bat as well as even, say, Starc and Pat Cummins.You might look back and say the India fast bowlers could have bowled more cutters, perhaps the spinners could have gone slower in the air to try to get the ball to turn because the pitch had something in it not too much earlier. They could have perhaps trusted Suryakumar Yadav more and not promoted Ravindra Jadeja to face a poor match-up against spin, as a result of which overs 30 to 36 featured no intent at all.However, these are marginal issues. Had Rahul taken more risks, they might have come off but we also know the flip side of it. The players will not say it, but the change in the conditions from afternoon to evening was the biggest deciding factor. It doesn’t make them chokers or mentally less strong or less courageous. They have played so much cricket that they know they just have to roll with it.And yet it will be the toughest thing for them to do. They have known this feeling before, but it never gets easier. And this time they came closer than ever since 2011. To fight for the biggest joy, you must risk the biggest heartbreak.

Williamson’s diabolical run-out and Southee’s drop on the last ball of the day summed up New Zealand’s mental block against Australia in Test cricket

Alex Malcolm01-Mar-2024Kane Williamson is normally unflappable. His team-mates describe him as a “miniature Buddha”. Always calm. Always present. Never fazed.The sight of Williamson looking stunned, shaking his head, not knowing where to look after a calamitous run-out where he collided with his batting partner Will Young, was the perfect metaphor for the Black Caps’ woes against Australia.It has reached the point where Australia’s Rugby team, the Wallabies, who have an equally woeful record against New Zealand’s All Blacks, should consider walking out for their next Bledisloe Cup match at Eden Park in whites and Baggy Green caps, such is mental stranglehold Australia’s cricketers have over New Zealand.After letting Australia wriggle off the hook at 89 for 4, 211 for 7 and 269 for 9 to concede 383 after winning the toss and electing to bowl on a surface that offered plenty, New Zealand lost three wickets in six balls to slump to 12 for 3 on their way to being bowled out for 179.Related

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Williamson’s run-out was diabolical. Having walked out after the loss of Tom Latham, the serene mini-Buddha was in a hurry to get off the mark second ball. He pushed a drive towards straight mid-off and made a late decision to take off without calculating the proximity of a prowling Marnus Labuschagne. Young was late to react to Williamson’s call and, as they both watched Labuschagne swoop, slide and release the throw, they collided mid-pitch. Young dropped his bat, Williamson ricocheted into Mitchell Starc, who was an idle bystander, and Labuschagne hit middle from close range as he so often does.Williamson was frazzled. He turned his head to Young as if to find someone or something to blame. But the reality was, even with a clear and direct path to the crease line, the run would have been incredibly tight.As bad as the run-out was, the entire sequence encapsulated the Black Caps’ mental state against Australia.Latham has been an excellent Test opener over a decade-long career averaging over 40 before this Test with 13 centuries. But in 17 Test innings against Australia, his average drops to 25.29 with a highest score of just 63. Starc has been his chief tormentor. And it didn’t take much for Starc to remove him for a fifth time in Test cricket. A good-length delivery on a fourth stump line exposed an indecisive mind. Latham wasn’t sure whether to leave or play and dragged a late defensive shot onto his stumps.Five balls later, with Williamson having already come and gone, Rachin Ravindra fell meekly. Ravindra has no mental baggage against Australia. He slaughtered them in a stunning ODI century in Dharamsala last year. He made a Test 240 less than a month ago. But he sliced a square drive in the air straight to Nathan Lyon at point off Josh Hazlewood before he had scored.Glenn Phillips was the best on show on the day for New Zealand•Getty ImagesTwelve for 3 became 29 for 5 when two more Black Caps with no mental baggage against Australia succumbed. Daryl Mitchell was tested endlessly on the front foot by Starc, Hazlewood and Pat Cummins as Australia’s trio of quicks bowled much fuller than their New Zealand counterparts had. Mitchell tried to walk down the track at them to mix up their lengths, as he does in white-ball cricket and as Cameron Green had done with great success in his epic 174 not out. But he was beaten time and again. Finally, Cummins pitched short and Mitchell nailed a pull shot for four. Cummins sent square leg back. The next ball was a double bluff. Good length again, nipping away, Mitchell prodded and edged and was on his way.First ball next over, Mitchell Marsh burgled another with Young tickling a leg glance into Alex Carey’s gloves.”Here we go again” was the murmur among the Wellington crowd. There’s a reason New Zealand haven’t won a home Test against Australia in 31 years and none anywhere in nearly 13. The calm, controlled and consistent cricket they play against other nations seems to disappear in the Tasman winds whenever their neighbours arrive from across the ditch.It was telling that the major fight came from two men who have performed well against Australia.Success does breed success. Tom Blundell and Glenn Phillips produced two of the standout batting performances in New Zealand’s 3-0 series defeat in Australia in 2019-20.They showed no fear in an excellent century stand to help New Zealand avoid conceding a larger first-innings deficit. Phillips took on Australia’s full lengths, thumping the quicks repeatedly down the ground. He was particularly savage on Starc and later climbed into Lyon on his way to a blistering 42-ball half-century.The day ended with the latest bungle on New Zealand’s part•Getty ImagesBlundell was organised and compact at the other end, but likewise cashed in on anything loose with positive footwork and great timing. But he was undone by Lyon’s turn and bounce, skipping down to the wrong length and gifting a bat-pad catch to Travis Head.Normal service resumed. Scott Kuggeleijn holed out to deep forward square with a filthy slog off Lyon second ball. The stare from Phillips at his partner as he trudged off was far more venomous than Williamson’s to Young had been earlier.Phillips fell by the sword for 71, holing out to fine leg trying to hook Hazlewood. Matt Henry is the only Black Cap to belie a poor prior record against Australia in this game. He continued to carry New Zealand after his five wickets, contributing a vital 41 off 34 with four sixes. But his side still conceded a 205-run deficit as Lyon wrapped up the tail to finish with four.New Zealand are not out of the game. Tim Southee produced two late strikes to remove Steven Smith and Labuschagne but they were not the dismissals of a bowler in top form. A filthy drag-on and a strangle down leg merely dragged his career bowling average against Australia back to 41.97 and his strike rate back to 74.9 after going wicketless in 27 overs in the first innings.The final moment of the day was an exclamation point on the Black Caps’ day and their woes against Australia. The entire team threw hands on heads as Southee sprawled to the turf at third slip having spilled a sitter off Henry to give Australia’s nightwatcher Lyon a life.Here we go again.

And has anyone converted more Test fifties to hundreds on the trot than Kane Williamson?

Steven Lynch13-Feb-2024Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 209 in the second Test, while no one else made more than 34. Was this a record? asked Amrit Apte from India

That superb knock by Yashasvi Jaiswal against England in Visakhapatnam turns out to be part of only the seventh Test innings to contain a double-century but no other individual score of more than 50.The next-highest score in Vizag was Shubman Gill’s 34: when Brian Lara made 226 against Australia in Adelaide in 2005-06, the next-best was also 34, by Dwayne Bravo. The highest score in a Test innings which didn’t contain any other fifties remains 262 not out, by Dennis Amiss for England vs West Indies in Kingston in 1973-74, when the next-highest was John Jameson’s 38.Kane Williamson has converted his last seven 50-plus scores in Tests into centuries. Has anyone had a better streak? asked Saleem Siddiqui from the United States

Kane Williamson’s twin tons against South Africa in Mount Maunganui last week did extend his run of converted half-centuries to seven. Actually, he couldn’t do much about the innings that preceded his seven centuries – he had 52 not out when New Zealand completed victory over India in the inaugural World Test Championship final in Southampton in 2021: Williamson has now scored ten Test centuries since being dismissed between 50 and 99.His seventh century put him clear of a distinguished band who turned six successive half-centuries into three-figures scores: Asif Iqbal, Alastair Cook, George Headley, Javed Miandad, Mahela Jayawardene, Virat Kohli, Garry Sobers, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick and Steve Waugh. But it’s no great surprise to find one man well clear of the field: between 1928-29 and 1932-33, Don Bradman reached 50 on 12 occasions and went on to his hundred every time.Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir combined for two wickets in Vizag. Were they the youngest bowler-fielder combination for England? asked Geoffrey Browne from England

Rehan Ahmed, who’s 19, caught Axar Patel off the bowling of the 20-year-old debutant Shoaib Bashir in India’s first innings in Visakhapatnam: shortly afterwards Bashir returned the favour by catching Srikar Bharat off Rehan’s bowling. The combined 39 years (less than Jimmy Anderson – see below!) was indeed the lowest for England: the previous record was 41 years, when Harry Brook (23) caught Pakistan’s Agha Salman off the bowling off Rehan (who was then 18) in Karachi in December 2022.Before Rehan Ahmed’s debut, the England record had been set in 2006, when Sri Lanka’s Chamara Kapugedera was caught by Alastair Cook off fellow 21-year-old Liam Plunkett at Trent Bridge. The previous combination (20 days older) was a famous one: at The Oval in 1938, Australia’s Lindsay Hassett was caught by Denis Compton (20) off the bowling of his Middlesex team-mate Bill Edrich (22).The record for all countries is a combined total of just 33 years, when Craig Wishart of Zimbabwe was caught by Bangladesh’s Mohammad Sharif (a month short of his 16th birthday) off the bowling of Mohammad Ashraful (17) in Chittagong in November 2001.Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir, both of whom were born after team-mate Jimmy Anderson made his debut, are also the youngest bowler-fielder combination to take a wicket for England•Stu Forster/Getty ImagesJimmy Anderson made his Test debut before two of his team-mates in Vizag were born. Was this a record? asked Keith Anderson from England

England’s seemingly ageless opening bowler Jimmy Anderson (actually he’s 41) made his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Lord’s in 2003. It’s true that that was before two of his team-mates in the second Test against India in Visakhapatnam were born – Rehan Ahmedwas born in August 2004 and Shoaib Bashir in October 2003.This is impressive – but there are two players who appeared in Tests with no fewer than four players who were born after they made their debuts. The England allrounder Wilfred Rhodes made his Test debut in 1899, and against West Indies in Georgetown in 1929-30 lined up alongside Les Ames (born 1905), Leslie Townsend (1903), Bill Voce (1909) and Bob Wyatt (1901). Many years later, Imran Khan won his first cap in June 1971, and in two Tests in 1991-92 appeared alongside Aaqib Javed (born 1972), Moin Khan (September 1971), Waqar Younis (November 1971) and Zahid Fazal (1973).Mohammad Nabi scored an ODI century the other day at the age of 39 – how many people older than him have done this? asked Zaim Ghaznavi from Pakistan

The durable Afghanistan allrounder Mohammad Nabi scored 136 against Sri Lanka in Pallekele last week. He was aged 39 years 39 days, and became the sixth-oldest man to score a century in a one-day international.Top of the list is the UAE’s Khurram Khan, who was 43 when he made 132 not out against Afghanistan in Dubai in 2014-15. The oldest for a Test-playing country Sanath Jayasuriya, who was 39 when he hit 107 for Sri Lanka against India in Dambulla in January 2009.In women’s ODIs, New Zealand’s Barb Bevege was 39 when she made 101 against an International XI in Auckland during the 1981-82 World Cup. here.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

There is excessive seam movement and bounce, batters are getting hit by the ball, and conditions have been anything but standard

Sidharth Monga06-Jun-20242:03

Flower on New York pitch – ‘Bordering on dangerous’

On paper, not much is riding on the India vs Pakistan match early morning this Sunday New York time, which is prime time on a Sunday night in India and Pakistan. The losing team should win its other matches comfortably and go on to the next round. The opponents in the next round are allocated on pre-tournament seeding so it is not that important to top this group either.And yet the success of the first half of an ambitious tournament rides on this match. At their best, India vs Pakistan matches subsidise the more predictable parts of a cricket tournament. They generate revenue that partly ensures expansion of the game. It is a fixture that gives ICC the confidence to play 20 teams in the World Cup of a sport that is notoriously snobbish. The contest gives them the confidence to risk moving it into the US, a country whose time zones are not friendly to existing fans elsewhere and where fandom is restricted to expats.After three matches (including a warm-up game) in the makeshift Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, if the ICC is not nervous about Sunday, it is treating India vs Pakistan like a cheat code that can paper over every other crack. If these matches were being played in an established stadium, it would be close to getting serious sanctions from the ICC.Related

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Excessive seam movement and bounce, which is also excessively variable, have left a massive cloud hanging over the weekend. The ICC rightly prefers standard conditions in limited-overs World Cups. It goes further than the simplistic preference for big hits. Standard conditions allow for execution of most skills that make for an even contest.It is also largely the concept behind T20, the biggest expansion tool for the sport. You want the batters to use their skills to score runs but you don’t want to see them fumbling and ducking and weaving and not be able to score more than 96 batting first in both matches so far.These conditions have been anything but standard. After a couple of wides against Ireland on Wednesday, Arshdeep Singh tried to bowl cross-seam but the ball still kept moving too much. Andy Flower is not exaggerating when he says the pitches are bordering on dangerous. Harry Tector, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant were all hit by the ball because it bounced in a way you don’t expect it to.The drop-in pitches have behaved this way because they are both underprepared and haven’t even had the time to bed in. Usually, when a cricket stadium relays its main square, it plays about 10 to 12 matches of junior cricket then senior domestic cricket before playing international cricket on it. Here, pitch No. 1 was used for the first time when Sri Lanka batted on it, were bowled out for 77 and made South Africa sweat in the chase. The pitch that hosted Ireland’s 96 all out against India was being used only for the second time.There are possible contributing circumstances to the pitches being underprepared. When they were brought in from Australia, New York was cold and rainy and snowy. They had to be taken to Florida to provide them the best chance of getting ready, and were then shipped to New York.1:49

Rapid Fire: Are these ideal conditions for a World Cup game?

Even if there had been great weather in New York and the pitches had been ready, it is unlikely the ICC had budgeted for the bedding-in period. It has been given permission to play only nine matches on it, including the warm-up game. So how did the ICC expect to bed the pitches in even if they had been prepared properly?The stadium was handed over to the ICC practically a day before the India vs Bangladesh warm-up match. India had sent half their side early to the US to prepare properly for the tournament, but forget training at the ground, when captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid tried to take a look at the ground and the pitch, they were turned away because the ground had not yet been handed over. Getting the stadium ready in three months for your biggest match of the year is not the flex the ICC thinks it is.Not much can be done now. India showed their bowling prowess on this pitch, and Pakistan only bring quicker bowlers with higher release points, making it an even bigger challenge for batters. They have tried pitches No. 1 and 4 already. The six pitches at the practice facility at Cantiague Park some 20 minutes from the ground were grown at the same time, and have been just as spicy. So spicy that South Africa’s batters refused to bat there against Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada. Local net bowlers have frequently hit batters because of seam movement and variable bounce.What are the odds then that the remaining two pitches, Nos, 2 and 3, will be any different? For what it’s worth, it is likely they will play Netherlands vs South Africa on one of the two middle pitches followed by India vs Pakistan the next day. So it will not be a completely fresh pitch although we saw in India vs Ireland that a used pitch does not mean a settled pitch.The Nassau County International Cricket Stadium has seen totals of 77 and 96 so far batting first•ICC via Getty ImagesPerhaps two menacing bowling attacks can even out the toss advantage. Perhaps we might see a low-scoring close match. But even if it does produce a low-scoring thriller, it is unlikely the ICC’s commercial partners will be happy with it.It is not just the on-field action that has been less than ideal. It was strange to see empty stands for an India match even if against Ireland. The two stands on the sides were full, but the hospitality stands with a straight view of the action were sparsely populated. There is a good chance the ICC might have priced people out of coming for some of these matches. With some packages going as high as $10,000 for the India-Pakistan match, who knows if Sunday morning will be full.There used to be a joke that if you name two bulls India and Pakistan, people will still watch a fight between them. There’s probably some truth to it, who knows. A shared bloodied history, some yearning among those who were displaced, continuous threat of war throughout their existence, India and Pakistan find a release when they play cricket, a licence to express feelings and emotions they otherwise just can’t: be it anger, pettiness, love, sporting etiquette.The ICC needs to be commended for involving 20 teams in this World Cup. The idea of taking it to a new venue, the capitalist capital of the world, is also a noble one. The execution of the idea, though, makes you wonder if it took the India-Pakistan emotions for granted.

Buttler insists England bow out with pride, but three losses to four major opponents begs to differ

Matt Roller27-Jun-20241:35

What next for Jos Buttler?

From the heights of South Australia to the depths of South America. If England were dominant in their T20 World Cup semi-final win over India in Adelaide 19 months ago, they were outthought, outplayed and outclassed by the same opponents in Guyana on Thursday. This was not just a defeat, but a thrashing.They were not good enough to restrict India with the ball, allowing them to reach a total which Jos Buttler considered to be 20-25 runs above par on a surface which was never likely to suit England, characterised by low bounce. With the bat, their only hope was for Buttler to score half the runs himself: when he reverse-swept the 19th ball of the chase behind, the game was as good as over.A series of different decisions will fall under the spotlight: was it the right call at the toss to bowl first on a pitch that would only get slower and lower as the day wore on? Did England really need four different seam options in such extreme conditions? Why was Tom Hartley in the squad for six weeks if not for this game, at this venue? England played the game they wanted, not the one they got.But, as Buttler recognised, this was not a semi-final defined by marginal calls. It was more than that, a complete thrashing inflicted by a team who have made great strides since the last World Cup on an opponent who have stagnated. A 68-run margin reflected England’s shortcomings as much as India’s strengths.”I don’t think [the toss] was the difference between the two sides,” Buttler said. “We thought long and hard about selection … but I think India played a really good game of cricket: whatever team or whatever happens, they were going to be a tough team to beat. We had to be at our best if we were going to win the game and we were short of our best today.”Axar Patel celebrates after getting the better of Jos Buttler•ICC/Getty ImagesIt begs the question: why weren’t they? A pitch with low bounce and grip was always more likely to suit India but England can have few excuses. The side they picked on Thursday has played 157 T20Is in the Caribbean between them and has made 436 appearances in the IPL, facing the same bowlers they came up against in Guyana, yet they were still found wanting.With the ball, they were either too slow to assess conditions or too greedy to respect them – unlike two years ago when they won in Australia. This was a surface which rewarded seamers for bashing the ball into the surface on a 6-8 metre length and whenever England strayed from that they were punished, primarily by Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav.Rohit played with the freedom that once characterised England’s batters, emboldened to attack without fear of failure. He took risks in the Powerplay and they paid off, his 39-ball 57 the outstanding innings on either side. And it is not long ago that England’s batters were considered innovators, but now – as epitomised by two extraordinary sixes over fine leg and extra cover respectively – Suryakumar is the world’s trailblazer.England’s chase betrayed a side who seemed helpless to adjust to what they had already seen. They were right to attack in the Powerplay while chasing an above-par total but they lacked the skill to counter India’s spinners: Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav rarely left the stumps and accounted for England’s middle order in the process.Related

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England expected this World Cup to play out as “a slugfest” and for the first two rounds they were not far off: they were drawn to play in Antigua, Barbados and St Lucia and generally played on flat pitches with true bounce. They were nearly eliminated by the rain but were impressive in the Super Eight, cruising past a strong West Indies and thrashing the United States.They were clinical against weaker opposition throughout but the wider lens is much less flattering: against Full Members, England lost three games out of four, with defeats to Australia, South Africa and India. They may have reached the semi-finals – the only team to have done so at the last four men’s T20 World Cups – but they have never resembled champions-elect.”I think reaching a semi-final of a World Cup is an achievement,” Buttler insisted. “We wanted to obviously go all the way: that was what we came here for. We faced lots of challenges and adversity throughout the whole tournament and we’ve stuck together well and played well enough to get to this stage. But unfortunately at this stage, we’ve fallen short.”I look back to Leeds when we all met up: I think everyone has made progress. We’ve played well, and not well enough. There’s stuff that we’ve been doing behind the scenes – the way we’ve prepared, the way we’ve trained, the way we’ve played in patches – that has been really good. There’s a lot of talent in the team and we came up against a top team today in these conditions.”There was no shame in losing to India, who are clear favourites heading into Saturday’s final in Barbados. But the manner of the defeat must prompt introspection for England and their white-ball set-up as a whole. They were beaten not only by the better team, but the braver one: India were rewarded for their attacking intent while England folded meekly.This was a strange day and a strange spectacle, elongated by rain and with India clearly advantaged by the predetermination of their semi-final venue. With only a handful of travelling fans able to make the trip, England’s rare boundaries were met by silence from the half-filled crowd: it was an apt reception for an elimination which has loomed for weeks.