ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jun-2015There was turn for Mitchell Santner and he quickly had England in trouble•Getty ImagesIt was once again Joe Root who led England away from danger, he went to his latest half-century•Getty ImagesWickets continued to tumble and it looked like England would fall before par•Getty ImagesBut Ben Stokes whacked 24 off 13 balls to lift England to 191•Getty ImagesNew Zealand’s chase got off to a dreadful start with Martin Guptill cleaned up early•PA PhotosBrendon McCullum came firing out of the blocks…•Getty Images…only to be bowled by Mark Wood just when he was most dangerous•Getty ImagesKane Williamson steadied the chase with a 31-ball fifty and for a time New Zealand looked in good shape…•Getty Images…only for wickets to clatter and the chase wilted•Getty ImagesA brilliant run-out of Williamson by David Willey effectively sealed the match•Getty ImagesAnd England ended up bowling out New Zealand with 22 balls to spare to win by a hefty 56 runs•Getty Images

Last year’s World Cup-winning Under-19 squad is graduating to senior cricket, and the future looks good for most of them

Firdose Moonda16-Oct-2015Imagine if there were others from where Kagiso Rabada came from. Imagine more potential match-winners and record-breakers whose careers have only just begun. You don’t have to imagine too hard. They are already out there.Rabada came from a South African squad that made history when it won the Under-19 World Cup on March 1, 2014. The senior side has tried six times and failed. The youngsters were, as South Africa’s sports minister Fikile Mbalula put it, “a bunch of winners”, and Rabada is not the only one who will bloom.”All of them have the potential to make it big,” Ray Jennings, who coached the U-19 squad, said. “Kagiso was obviously the stand out, and there might end up being two halves – those who go on and actually make it and those who just fade away, but all of them have what it takes.”Clyde Fortuin, a wicketkeeper from Western Cape, had the most dismissals at the World Cup – 19 catches and a stumping – double that of his nearest competitor, and has been signed by Warriors as their first-choice keeper across all formats this season.Andile Phehlukwayo played for Dolphins in the Champions League last season•Getty Images”We recognised that he could come into our set-up and balance the team. Of course, he still needs to make sure he selects himself through performance, but we signed him with the intention of him being our No. 1,” Malibongwe Maketa, Warriors coach, said.Fortuin is replacing Davy Jacobs, who hung up his gloves after a prolonged period of injury. He will some face competition for the spot from Gihahn Cloete, who played in the 2012 U-19 World Cup.At 23, Cloete, who also moved provinces after playing in the Free State for the last five seasons, is three years older than Fortuin, but experience may not trump youth at Warriors. “Fortuin is quiet and down to earth but with a little bit of arrogance. He really believes in his own ability,” Maketa said. “He has come on his own into a foreign environment and that already shows a lot of maturity. We want to make sure we can create an environment for him to grow and give him as much opportunity as we can to perform.”That has already been happening for two of Rabada’s other team-mates – allrounder Andile Phehlukwayo and fast bowler Sibonelo Makhanya. They are both on Dolphins’ books and are fast establishing themselves as regular members of the set-up.Chad Bowes, who played the 2012 U-19 World Cup for South Africa, has moved to New Zealand in hope of better opportunities•ICC/GettyLast year they travelled with the team to the Champions League T20, where Phehlukwayo played in all four Dolphins games. It was tough going for him – he only bowled four overs and went wicketless at the tournament – but he got exposure on a grand scale. This summer, they have both been part of the Africa T20 Cup squad and are playing in the ongoing domestic one-day cup.Phehlukwayo and Makhanya are not only crossing the bridge from U-19 to franchise cricket. They are also two success stories among several promising black African players – the demographic group Cricket South Africa is targeting in a bid to overcome apartheid’s legacy of marginalisation. They are what happens when transformation works.Both come from humble backgrounds. Phelukwayo is the child of a single parent who was a domestic worker; Makhanya grew up in the township of Verulam, about 30 kilometres outside Durban, and had to travel more than 60km to get to school daily.They received scholarships to Glenwood High, the alma mater of South Africa Test cricketer Steven Jack, to ensure they had access to better facilities and coaching.Makhanya was eventually offered a scholarship that included boarding at Durban High School, where Hashim Amla and Barry Richards studied. In an interview with the last year, he recalled the difficulties of settling in and overcoming the odds.”It was the first time that I was exposed to that kind of a world. When I first got to Glenwood I had my tired, cheap kit, and I looked up to white guys. Then I grew up and became more mature and began to understand where I want to be in life,” he said. Now it seem as though he is getting there.Class of 2014: South Africa’s World Cup-winning U-19 squad with the trophy•ICCLower down in the system, at the semi-professional provincial level, Rabada’s World Cup captain, Aiden Markram, South Africa’s top run scorer in the tournament, has a contract with Titans. Markram opened the batting for Northerns in the Africa T20 Cup and scored a half-century in the semi-final against the Kwa-Zulu Natal team Phehlukwayo and Makhanya were part of. Markram, along with Fortuin and Corbin Bosch, was also part of the South Africa Emerging squad that toured Sri Lanka in August, and he and Bosch are currently part of the University of Pretoria squad in India defending their World Campus Title.Five other members of that champion U-19 team are also part of university outfits – Dirk Bruwer played for University of Free State, Justin Dill for Stellenbosch University, Ngazibini Sigwili is at the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, Jason Smith turns out for University of the Western Cape and Yaseen Valli is at the University of Johannesburg. And all of them are involved in provincial outfits as well.Jennings believes they are the players most likely to be on the right path to success because they are giving themselves options not dependent on cricket. “Players need to get educated to do other things because a lot of sports people, especially young players, can overrate themselves. They think because they have school colours they are heroes and the world owes them a living, but that’s not the case,” he said. “Varsity is important. You need to be educated and learn to feel the heat of life so that when you are 21 or 22, you’re not still getting out of bed at 11am and going to the movies at 12 and that’s your day.”Ngazibini Sigwili is one of several young players playing for South African universities•ICCBut what about those who feel their chances of becoming professional sportsmen take too long? Bradley Bopp, part of the World Cup team, has decided to try his luck in the UK, while former U-19 captain Chad Bowes, who was South Africa’s second highest run scorer behind Quinton de Kock at the 2012 World Cup, has emigrated to New Zealand and hopes to qualify to play for them after failing to make headway at Kwa-Zulu Natal.Jennings does not see a talent drain as a potential pitfall of a system that sometimes makes players wait for a contract. “It’s always a good idea to achieve your dream and if you can’t achieve it where you are, you may have to go somewhere else. You must have a positive, energetic system with a good structure that is pushing people from the bottom up. That’s when you know it’s working.”Rabada and Co are proof of that.

Plays of the day from the second T20 between India and South Africa in Cuttack

Firdose Moonda05-Oct-2015Cracking up
If the Dharamsala pitch was India’s version of the Wanderers’ surface, Cuttack’s was an impression of the back of the moon. It was carved with cracks, which prompted Faf du Plessis to use South Africa’s specialist spinner early. Imran Tahir bowled the second over and with his second legitimate ball found one of the crevices. The ball jumped up off it, from short of a good length, and startled Rohit Sharma, whose bat was knocked out of his hands.Angry young man
No-one does irritated quite like Virat Kohli and he had good reason to be when he was run-out on the first ball he faced. Kohli correctly took a single after he hit the ball to deep midwicket but Rohit wanted more. He persuaded Kohli to chance Chris Morris’ arm but the throw was fast and flat and AB de Villiers only had to get the bails off to find Kohli well short of his ground. To his credit, Kohli did not even wait for the replay before walking off but he made no secret of his dissatisfaction with Rohit.Angrier young man
KohlI did not have to wait too long to see Rohit get his comeuppance. Three overs later, Rohit decided to take a single off an Albie Morkel ball that he pushed to point but underestimated David Miller’s athleticism. The fielder swooped in on the ball and with one stump to aim at, managed a direct hit while on the move. Rohit had no chance of getting back and joined Kohli in the dressing room.Nothing going right
Without much to defend, India had to take every chance that came their way and thought they had done that when Shikhar Dhawan pulled off a direct hit in an attempt to run-out JP Duminy. The batsman had set off for a run as soon as he drove the ball to the left of Dhawan, who had fumbled the previous ball and was under pressure, but recovered well. Dhawan was down quickly and released accurately to break the stumps at the bowler’s end. The Indian fielders celebrations were cut short when they realised Duminy was home safe and their slim hopes of staying in the series were quelled.Crowd chaos
Forty-four thousand, seven-hundred and ninety (44,790) people filled the Barabati Stadium, as it said on the television, to watch the first T20 international to be played at the venue but they were not happy with what they saw. They sat through India’s batting collapse but could not bear watching South Africa canter to a win, and showed it. With nine overs left in the match and South Africa just 29 runs from a series win, fans threw plastic bottles, some of them as large as two litres, onto the playing surface. Play was stopped, the fielders took refuge near the middle of the field, where the bottles could not reach them and even Duminy and Farhaan Behardien sat down for a break while things settled. It took 27 minutes before play could resume but play was stopped again after two overs and this time the players went off the field.

India faced strong resistance from Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis on the third day, but R Ashwin, aided by a treacherous pitch, proved too relentless for them

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Nagpur27-Nov-2015A remarkable cricketing run has come to an end. Hashim Amla had played all of seven Tests, and AB de Villiers only 22, when South Africa last lost a Test series away from home, in 2006 in Sri Lanka. Since then they had won series in Pakistan, Bangladesh, England, Australia, West Indies, New Zealand, England again, Australia again, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. They had drawn two series each in India and the UAE, and one in Bangladesh.That run ended in Nagpur. It ended at 3.22 pm on Friday, when R Ashwin swerved an arm ball through Morne Morkel’s gate to pick up his seventh wicket of the innings, his 12th of the match, and his 24th of the series. Through most of the series, the pitches had helped spin to such an extent that some of his skill had been obscured. But on the third day, against an obdurate pair of South African batsmen who fought tooth and nail on a difficult surface, Ashwin demonstrated all the craft and guile that had contributed to his rise from promising to world-class.South Africa’s run ended with a second defeat inside three days, but the third day showcased the skill and fight that had sustained so much of their unbeaten away run: in Kolkata five years ago, when Amla had batted for over eight hours and remained unbeaten to try and resist India’s push for a series-levelling win; in Adelaide in 2012, where de Villiers and Faf du Plessis, on debut, had helped South Africa bat out 148 overs to save the Test and seal a series win; in similar circumstances in Colombo last year, where the entire team had blocked and blocked to bat out 111 overs, while only scoring 159, to save another Test and win another series.Here in Nagpur, a draw was out of the question, with a full three days left. Talking about their chances of winning seemed like mocking the position South Africa were in. They had only passed 200 once in their four previous innings in the series, and had been bowled out for 79 in their first innings here. They began the day 32 for 2. Their target was 310.The pitch seemed a touch slower than it had been on the first two days, but uneven bounce was more frequent. Thoughts of what the pitch could do seemed to consume de Villiers’ mind, as he jumped out repeatedly to Ashwin in a display of skills that belonged on a slippery lower-league football pitch rather than in a Test match. It almost seemed inevitable that he wasn’t watching Ashwin’s hand when he slipped in what proved to be an innings-terminating carrom ball.Amla at the other end was blocking resolutely, blocking everything. Left foot forward, head over the ball, block, block, block. Du Plessis joined him, and adopted the same plan. For the first time in the match, a partnership developed, even if it dealt in the currency of time rather than runs. The batsmen made small, incremental gains. Moral victories of a sort.Right through the series, Ashwin had bowled to the right-handers without a fielder patrolling the covers. Now he sent down what might have been his first half-volley, and Amla drove him through that gap for four. In the first innings, du Plessis had tried to hit Ravindra Jadeja over his head, but the ball had bowled him, sliding through straight rather than turning away. Now du Plessis got one right in his slot, and he swung freely through the line and launched a clean, straight six.Amit Mishra came on, and immediately generated dip and turn to find Amla’s edge, not once but twice. Ironically, a pitch that made ordinary deliveries look threatening now punished balls that would have taken wickets elsewhere. One edge fell short of the keeper, the other short of first slip.By the end of the first session, Amla and du Plessis had forced the bowlers into trying new things. Ashwin went right-arm around. Jadeja went left-arm over.The R Ashwin of old might have been thrown by South Africa’s resistance, not this version•BCCILunch seemed to rejuvenate the spinners, bring the snap back to the work their fingers and bodies were putting on the ball. Jadeja turned the ball past the outside edge. Ashwin turned it past the inside edge, got it to pop up off the pad. India went up in collective appeal. The crowd – not a full house, but certainly a large one – appealed along with them, a tinge of high-pitched desperation in their voices.There was desperation in India’s pleas too. Virat Kohli ran from leg slip to short cover during the course of one appeal. Everyone apart from Cheteshwar Pujara, who caught the ball at short leg, went up for another, getting into a V formation in a moment of unintended choreography.The umpires remained unmoved. Amla and du Plessis remained unmoved. Left foot forward, head over the ball, block, block, block. There was a magnificent grimness to it, but spectators can only remain riveted to such a spectacle for so long. Some of the occupants of the press box had changed their flight plans, confident this would be a three-day finish. Now they wondered if they had been a touch overconfident.Up in the top tier of the stands, the view was spectacular, the fielders pieces in a board game. There was still noise from the crowd, but it was all a little disconnected from the action in the middle. Stray whistles, chants that had nothing to do with the cricket. “Five, four, three, two, one, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!”The top tier of the VCA Stadium is seven storeys high. You can use the elevator to get there, but only if you’re a senior citizen. That’s what the sign above the door says. With 20 minutes left for tea, South Africa were 130 for 4. They needed a further 180. This stark fact, up on the electronic scoreboard-cum-replay-screen, was a reminder to du Plessis and Amla that all the work they had done through the best part of two sessions had taken them far less than halfway to the summit of their climb. It was as if they had gone up and down the stadium stairs, all seven flights of them, without a break, for close to two sessions, and the scoreboard was telling them they would have to keep doing it for three more sessions, with no recourse to the senior citizens’ lift.Twice in two overs, Ishant Sharma reminded them that an unplayable ball was always around the corner. First he forced du Plessis to remove his bottom hand hurriedly from a defensive jab, the ball lifting alarmingly off a length. Then he beat him with one that reversed away. The crowd grew more attentive. They roared a long continuous roar as Ishant ran in, grew silent when he released, and exhaled a collective ‘ooh’ when Amla blocked one that swerved in towards his off stump.Then Amla stretched out to defend Mishra. The long front-foot stride and cushiony dead bat had been the bedrock of his innings. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, it was the 112th defensive shot he attempted. He had middled a fair number, edged a few, and been beaten on both edges. The data said he had been in control for 90 out of the previous 111 balls he had tried to block. The edges hadn’t carried so far, but this ball was different, jumping from the surface, and it caught his bat high, near the shoulder, and popped to a leaping Kohli at gully.India had broken through. Amla’s 39 had consumed 167 balls.Du Plessis, hero of Adelaide, was also on 39 when he faced Mishra’s next over. Out came a rare short ball, and a chance for some runs. Du Plessis rocked back to pull. This time, the ball shot through at shin height, crept under his bat, and bowled him. He had faced 152 balls.The end was imminent, and it came soon after tea, with Ashwin sending back the last four, one after another beaten in the air or by his deception off the pitch. A couple of years ago, a partnership such as the one between Amla and du Plessis might have frustrated Ashwin into trying something different and sending down a loose ball or two. A bad ball is a bad ball on any pitch, and South Africa’s spinners had found this out over the first two days of the match. The Ashwin of 2015 is a different bowler, one of the best in the world. He never released the pressure, never stopped dangling down those dipping, fizzing offbreaks. It was only right that he was the man to end one of cricket’s greatest runs.

Adelaide Oval has been an outstanding venue for Australia’s captain, while the vice-captain enters this Test in rare form

Bharath Seervi26-Nov-20153 Number of day-night first-class matches at the Adelaide Oval. All three have been between New South Wales and South Australia, one in each of the last three seasons. The first match was drawn, while the other two were won by New South Wales – by 168 runs and by 215 runs.2 Number of Tests Australia have lost in Adelaide since 1996. In 20 Tests during this period, they have won 14, lost two and drawn four. The two defeats were against India in 2003, and against England in 2010.0 Number of wins for New Zealand at this venue in four Tests. They have lost three – two by an innings – and drawn one.231 Steven Smith’s first-class batting average in six innings in Adelaide. He scored 6 and 23 not out against England in 2013, 162 and 52 – both unbeaten innings – against India last year, and 67 and 152 not out for New South Wales against South Australia in a day-night game this season.556 Runs scored by David Warner in the first two Tests of this series. His scores read: 163, 116, 253 and 24. He needs 197 more in the third Test to break Graham Gooch’s record of most runs in a Test series of three or fewer matches: Gooch scored 752 in the three-match series against India in 1990. Another century in Adelaide will make Warner the second batsman, after Mohammad Yousuf, to score four centuries in a series of three or fewer Tests.0 Number of Australia openers who have scored more than three centuries in any Test series. Warner has three so far and can become the first Aussie opener and the third overall after Herbert Sutcliffe and Sunil Gavaskar, to score four centuries in a series. Both Sutcliffe and Gavaskar did it twice, but never in a series of three of fewer Tests.397 Runs scored by Kane Williamson in this series. He requires 139 more to go past Brendon McCullum’s tally of 535, which is currently the highest for New Zealand in a series of three or fewer Tests. McCullum scored those runs in the two-Test series against India in 2013-14. Williamson needs only 17 runs in this Test to go past his own tally of 413 in the West Indies last year, which is the best for New Zealand in an away series of not more than three Tests.834 Total runs that need to be scored in the Adelaide Test for this to be the highest scoring three-Test series in Australia. Currently, the record aggregate is 3973, in the series against South Africa in 2008-09. In the first two Tests of the ongoing series, 3140 runs have been scored – 1432 at the Gabba, and 1672 in Perth. To go past the overall record for most runs in a three-match series in any country, this match needs to yield 1537 runs.15 Wickets for Mitchell Starc in two day-night first-class matches at this venue, at an average of 13.80. Against South Australia last year, he had match figures of 7 for 117, while this year against the same opponents he did even better, taking 8 for 90, including first-innings figures of 5 for 28.

Despite the wickets that fell on the final day, this Cape Town Test still ended up with the highest runs per wicket among all Tests in South Africa

S Rajesh06-Jan-201674.47 The average runs per wicket in this Test, despite the flurry of wickets on the final day. It is the highest average for any Test in South Africa, comfortably going past the previous best of 58.85 in the South Africa-West Indies Test at Newlands in 2004. The three highest averages in a Test in South Africa have all been in Cape Town.78.33 The difference between England’s runs per wicket in their first and second innings in this Test. In the first innings, they averaged 104.83 runs per wicket, and in the second their average dropped to 26.50. The difference is the fourth largest for a team in a Test, in instances when they have lost at least five wickets in their second innings. The three higher ones are West Indies against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2013 (difference 104.45), Australia against Pakistan in Peshawar in 1998 (difference 91.95), and England against Australia in Adelaide in 2006 (difference 78.93).6 Successive Tests in Cape Town which had produced a decisive result before the draw here. In 2011, the South Africa-India Test ended in a draw, while the previous year, England had hung on to save the game despite being nine down in their second innings. The last two Tests in Cape Town involving England have both ended in draws.2 Man-of-the-Match awards in Tests for Ben Stokes; his previous one was against New Zealand at Lord’s last year.29.9 Alastair Cook’s batting average in South Africa, his poorest among all countries where he has played Tests. In the 2009-10 series he scored 287 runs at an average of 41, but in the current series he has scored only 42 in four innings. His overall average of 35.54 against South Africa is also his lowest among all opposition teams.5 Number of times, out of eight innings that he has bowled in in Tests, that Dane Piedt has taken three or more wickets. In four Tests, he has 21 wickets at an average of 32.76.35.45 Nick Compton’s strike-rate in Tests – in 18 of his 21 innings he has scored at a strike-rate of less than 45. Among all top-order batsmen (Nos. 1-6) who average 35-plus and have played at least 20 innings since 1980, only one batsman has a lower strike rate: New Zealand’s John Reid had a scoring rate of 35.31 in 29 innings during this period.2004 The last time the new year Tests in Australia and South Africa both ended in draws: India played out a draw in Sydney that year, while West Indies were the touring team in Cape Town. With rain washing out the last two days in the ongoing Sydney Test, that game is certain to end in a draw as well.

Stats highlights from day one in Hobart, where Australia enjoyed yet another run-fest

Shiva Jayaraman10-Dec-20152 Individual scores higher than Adam Voges’ unbeaten 174 in Tests in Hobart. The only double-hundred at this venue was scored by Ricky Ponting against Pakistan in 2010-11. Kumar Sangakkara’s 192 in 2007-08 is the only other higher score at this venue.438 Runs scored on the first day in Hobart – the seventh highest on any day of a Test in Australia and the highest at this venue. The previous highest scored in a day of play in Hobart was the 411 scored by the hosts against New Zealand in 2001-02. This is also the third-highest score on the first day of a Test in Australia.1931 The last time before this Test when West Indies conceded over 400 runs in a single day’s play. On that occasion the same opponents had amassed 428 runs for the loss of three wickets on the first day of the Brisbane Test. The only other instance when West Indies conceded 400-plus in a day had happened a year before that, when England made 411 runs on the second day of the Jamaica Test. The 438 runs that they conceded today are the most they have conceded in a day in Tests.100 Balls taken by Voges to complete his century in this innings – the fastest hundred in Tests in Hobart. The previous fastest at this venue was Adam Gilchrist’s 110-ball hundred against Pakistan in 1999-00.7 Number of hundreds by Voges in first-class cricket in 2015 – the most he has scored in a year. Voges has made 2346 runs at 67.02 in 2015. This was Voges’ third Test century. He has made 827 runs at 68.91 in Tests. Among players to make their debut after the age of 35, Voges’s average is currently the highest.11 Number of fifty-plus scores by David Warner in 2015 – the most by any Australia opener in Tests in a calendar year. Before Warner this year, Matthew Hayden and Simon Katich had each made 10 such scores in 2001 and 2009 respectively. Warner has made 1277 runs at 58.04 in 2015.1565 Runs added by Australia’s first wicket in Tests this year; this is the most they have added in any single year. They had scored 1546 runs in 25 innings in 2001, which was their previous highest. The 75-run stand between Warner and Joe Burns was Australia’s 12th fifty-plus opening stand in Tests in 2015 – the most, by far, by any team this year.6 Number of 300-run stands for Australia’s fourth wicket in Tests including the one between Voges and Shaun Marsh. The last such partnership came between Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, who added 386 in the first innings at the Adelaide Oval against India in 2011-12.1 Partnerships that have added more runs than the one between Voges and Marsh in Tests in Hobart. Ponting and Clarke had added 352 against Pakistan in 2009-10. The fourth-wicket stand in Australia’s innings was only the third 250-plus partnership in Tests in Hobart. Click here for a list of 300-run stands for the fourth wicket in Tests.847 Total runs scored in the day in the ongoing Tests in Dunedin and Hobart – the most that have been scored in a day with a maximum of two Tests in progress. While Australia ended the day at 438 for 3, New Zealand made 409 for 8 in Dunedin. The previous highest was 823 runs, scored on September 7, 2001, when 409 runs were made on second day at the SSC and 414 on the first day of the Harare Test.18 Innings played by Shaun Marsh since his last century in Tests. Before his 139* in this innings, he had made 148 in Centurion last year. This was his third hundred in Tests. He also completed 1000 Test runs during his innings.2006 The last time before this Test when four bowlers, who sent down at least ten overs each, leaked runs at an economy rate of 5 or worse. In this innings Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel and Jomel Warrican have conceded runs at more than 5 an over so far. On the last such occasion, four Pakistan bowlers had suffered this, in the Lahore Test. Apart from this, there is only one such instance, which came in the second innings of the SSC Test in 2001, when four Bangladesh bowlers were at the receiving end.

As “Sachiiiiin” echoed around Eden Gardens, Virat Kohli stepped in to lift India from trouble – with a venerable sidekick for company

Karthik Krishnaswamy19-Mar-20162:08

Match Day – No obvious weakness in Kohli’s batting

India were three down, India were wobbling. Virat Kohli clipped a ball to the left of Mohammad Amir at deep backward square leg and tore down the pitch, head down, legs pumping furiously.From the eastern galleries of Eden Gardens came a chant, familiar and ghostly.”Sachiiiiin… Sachin!”Maybe it was nostalgia, a wish to rekindle the atmosphere of countless cricket matches past, or maybe they just saw Sachin Tendulkar on the big screen, suited and booted. Or maybe, just maybe, they saw something of the old master in the young one, in the undisturbed poise on a difficult pitch, the placement of that deft little flick, and the instant recognition that a second run could be stolen if the first was run quickly.Amir sprinted around and stopped the ball. Low to the ground after a quick turnaround at the non-striker’s end, Kohli looked up, already a couple of steps down the pitch. At the other end, Yuvraj Singh had put his hand up. There would be no second run.Kohli would get that double as soon as he came on strike again, with a deft flick that took an off-stump ball from Mohammad Sami and placed it between fine leg and deep square leg.For the second time in just over a fortnight, Pakistan had India three down early in a T20 chase. The last time, there hadn’t been enough runs on the board to defend. They hadn’t made a big total this time either, but 119 in 18 overs is a stiffer chase than 84 in 20.Again they were bowling on a testing surface: Mirpur had offered seam movement and carry. Here, in Kolkata, the pitch had sweated under covers as rain thundered down and delayed the start of play by an hour, and the moisture was causing the ball to grip and turn sharply, whether you were a spinner or a seamer bowling cutters.

The secret of limited-overs boundary-hitting is to place it just wide of the fielder in the circle and leave the boundary rider too much work to do. Kohli is utterly brilliant at it

Again, Pakistan had run into Kohli and Yuvraj. A limited-overs great and his ageing, declining, but still-fighting sidekick.In Mirpur, Yuvraj had struggled to put bat to ball as Amir and Mohammad Irfan zipped the ball around in the corridor. Here, he defended the second ball he faced without quite moving into – or having the time to move into – the line of the ball. In the next over he faced from Sami, he was late on a pull, and the ball hit the high part of his bat and hung in the air for a long time over the vacant midwicket area. A swifter man than Shahid Afridi may well have covered the distance from mid-on.In between, Yuvraj had played a cracking shot, seeing a bit of width from Sami and freeing his arms to wallop the ball gloriously through the covers. Like a lot of his recent innings, the old (as in ageing) Yuvraj was coexisting with the old (as in circa 2011) Yuvraj.At the other end, Kohli was shifting the pressure back onto Pakistan in a manner fans have come to expect, leaving them with the curious sensation of marveling at an utterly mundane, everyday thing. Kohli has shots all around the ground, having completed the circle by mastering the sector behind the wicket on the off side over the last few months. The first ball he faced from Sami was shortish and rising steeply, and he was in midair when he met it with an open bat face to steer it between backward point and short third man.That shot, Kohli’s first boundary, moved him from 3 to 7. From that point, he scored off all but one of the next 10 balls he faced. There were the two flicks, described earlier, off Sami. Most other batsmen would have played those balls straight or into the covers.There was a ball from Afridi that he went back to, shaping to force through the off side; it skidded on straight, cramping him for room, and Kohli used his hands and wrists to manufacture a sliced punch to deep point. Most other batsmen would have blocked that ball back to the bowler.There was only one marginally bad ball in that 10-ball sequence, a short ball from Wahab Riaz. But it was angling away from Kohli, and he had to fetch the pull from outside off stump. No problem. Four runs.Yuvraj came on strike again in that over, and was immediately beaten outside his off stump, late on the ball while trying to steer it behind point. Wahab dug one in short a couple of balls later, and Yuvraj pulled it down to long-on. In his prime, Yuvraj would have met that ball a touch earlier, with his body a little further into the stroke, and hit it through midwicket.Yuvraj Singh connects with his pull shot•AFPBut just when you were ruminating over that thought, Yuvraj turned the clock back one more time: a similar delivery in Wahab’s next over, swatted imperiously over the midwicket boundary. And then he pulled a long-hop straight to deep midwicket. By then, he had done what he had needed to do.In between, Kohli had played the two most dismissive shots of his innings, telling Pakistan it was all over. Shoaib Malik began the 11th over from around the wicket, and Kohli saw one on just the right length to go down on one knee and slog-sweep, ignoring the presence of deep backward square leg and clearing him easily. Then Malik moved over the wicket; he floated one up outside off and Kohli swiped it away, all along the ground, all wrist and bottom hand, leaving short midwicket motionless.It is the secret of limited-overs boundary-hitting – hit it just wide of the fielder in the circle, hit it hard enough to rule out the diving stop, and leave the boundary rider too much work to do. Kohli is utterly brilliant at it. As the target neared, Kohli did this three times with the man at short extra cover, twice off Afridi and once off Amir, beating the fielder twice to his left and once to his right.The two cover drives off Afridi were played with a bottom-hand whip that is Kohli’s and no one else’s. The one off Amir was more of a punch, with the full face showing and the left elbow high. Eden Gardens did not break into the Sachin chant, but somewhere in the posh seats the master would have nodded approvingly.

The rivalry between the India and Pakistan women’s teams may not grab as much of the limelight as the men’s game but there’s just as much at stake for the two teams when they meet in Delhi

Vithushan Ehantharajah18-Mar-2016If the marquee clash of the men’s World T20 is taking place in Kolkata, then Delhi is where the up-and-comers face up on the undercard. On Saturday, cricket’s fiercest rivals will face-off for only the seventh time in a women’s Twenty20 international.The head-to-head results tell the story: India Women have won five of the previous six T20I matches against Pakistan Women. They are also undefeated in eight ODI encounters. India got off the mark in this tournament with a 72-run win over Bangladesh. Pakistan, hamstrung by the political knockabout above their heads, fell valiantly to West Indies, having prepared with just one net session.While another India win looks a formality, it’s worth noting that Pakistan’s sole victory came when the two teams met in the 2012 Women’s World T20. Even the Pakistan men’s team have not bested India in either a World Cup or a World T20.Much has changed since that one-run thriller in Galle. For starters, India exacted revenge in 2014 by six runs. Also, Saturday’s game will be the first India-Pakistan women’s match where players on both sides are in possession of central contracts.This year marked the start of the professional era in Indian women’s cricket. Given the financial clout of the BCCI, “better late than never” doesn’t quite fly. Still, 11 cricketers are being paid between Rs 10-15 lakh (approx. $15,000 and $22,500) – much better than nothing for a crop of players from humble backgrounds.The PCB was quicker on the draw, taking the plunge on central contracts in 2011, spurred on by a gold in the 2010 Asian Games and rewarded 19 players with deals. This year, 22 were given deals, split into four different categories.Pakistan’s results in that period have been sketchy at best. Their overall T20I record stands at 27 wins from 66 matches. But the development of players such as Anam Amin and Javeria Khan (sadly ruled out of the tournament after breaking her thumb in the opener against West Indies) are good signs of progression. All captain Sana Mir wants now is patience.”Women’s cricket is growing. We’ve made wonderful progress as a team, which is a great sign for cricketers and organisers. We have a great combination in our team where the roles of seniors are well-defined and for juniors as well. If we are patient, the hype will come in the following years.”For India captain Mithali Raj, her long-term focus is slightly different. The BCCI is a board whose ambitions fall short of those of its female players. They were notable absentees at this season’s Women’s Big Bash League, which showcased the best of the rest of the world. The players admired enviously from afar. They know they need to be flawless on the field if they are to be heard by their own board and the Indian public. Especially against Pakistan. Especially on television.”We cannot be complacent tomorrow,” says Raj, “because people have not really seen the women play. This is probably the first time they’ll see us live on television.”The way ahead is only when the next series is televised as well. If you don’t televise a series after the World T20, then people will lose interest. Because the more you have [the] interest of people, the more curious people will be to follow women’s cricket, and that’s how we can garner attention and market the sport.”Both captains expect a tense game. Mir doesn’t think it’ll be as feisty as the first time these sides met, though she wants her players hold their nerve in front of what she hopes will be a sizeable crowd. She declined to state if Pakistan will go with 17 overs of spin again. Raj wants her charges to pick up where they left off and focus on clearing the ropes as they did against Bangladesh. Harmanpreet Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy will focus on bringing the fireworks.And both captains agree on another point: this is a game that Asian women’s cricket needs to be proud of. One that, in the near future, will be given the focus of a true marquee fixture. For now, the historic rivalry almost plays second fiddle.

The icy conditions may have had Sri Lanka supporters fearing the worst but this was a glorious day of competence in the field by Angelo Mathews’ side

Andrew Fidel Fernando at Chester-le-Street27-May-2016Before this match Angelo Mathews said he thought Sri Lanka fielded and caught well at Headingley. They dropped at least three catches in their one innings in the field. Yet he was probably correct in suggesting this represented improvement. Often this year, they have fumbled the ball, fallen over in pursuit, fist-bumped it, chest-bumped it, caressed it lovingly over the rope, escorted it gallantly to the fence, and danced flailingly around it like it was the wooden idol in a tribal ritual.So when Mathews said he was hopeful his team would field well in Durham, it was easy to doubt him. It had been the coldest approach to a Test many of his team had experienced. Sri Lanka do not field well in the cold. With their most-athletic seamer – Dushmantha Chameera – now gone, they also had three ungainly quicks whose bodies seem to consist only of limbs. Rangana Herath, is at least 90% torso. Sri Lanka were, in short, primed to have an atrocious day in the field.But there Dimuth Karunaratne was at second slip, diving to his left to hold the ball flying quickly off Alastair Cook’s blade. There Suranga Lakmal was at fine leg, flinging his rangy limbs in supplication to the heavens to soon find the ball lodged in his palms. This had been made all the better by his seeming to dart in several directions at once, after initially misreading the hook off Nick Compton’s bat.Lakmal even held the ball close for a few seconds after he came to a screeching stop just inside the boundary. Was he just enjoying the feeling of leather on skin? Was he happy at how surprisingly well his whole manoeuvre had gone? On another day, he could have easily traveled over the line, into the boundary boards, and on to Sri Lanka, because going by track record, there is no way a Sri Lankan quick can twist his body like that and not be injured for several months. Most fielders didn’t really believe he had caught it at first. Why would they? They are not idiots.Later, Mathews himself led by example when he went aerial to his right to hold a slippery slip catch, close in, off Alex Hales. Lahiru Thirimanne was the next to take flight, climbing in an instant to his right to cling to James Vince’s uppish cover drive. This was the most athletic take, but perhaps the least surprising, as Thirimanne has recently been involved in many wonderful dismissals off expansive drives. Usually he is the batsman. But still, it is one thing to see this kind of catch repeatedly at close quarters; another entirely to emulate it.Towards the end of the day, the fielding slipped a little. Third man running around to deep cover could have dived to stop four, but offered only an unsuccessful boot instead, allowing Jonny Bairstow an undeserved boundary. Dinesh Chandimal let another ball wriggle between his sore wicketkeepers’ fingers to concede a bye in the 86th over. There were unnecessary shies at the stumps, and questionable backing up as well, but who could dwell on such minutiae after the year this team has had? Catches aside, even in the other fielding disciplines, this was Sri Lanka’s sublime day of near-competence; three sessions of glorious adequacy.With their two best quicks of the past 18 months now out of the series, it is just as well the fielders lifted their game to make up for the weakening of the attack.”We have to catch everything that’s possible,” coach Graham Ford said. “If you have a really express bowler or very skillful ones – like perhaps England have – even if you miss one or two catches, there’s still more chance of another one coming fairly soon. For us, it’s very important that we latch on to everything to stay competitive in the series.”The catching was especially heartening, because on Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s fielders had kept their gloves on during drills, so chill was the wind blowing off the North Sea. “Everyone in the team was happy to see those catches as they were really special catches,” Ford said. “Hats off to boys. At training they have worked hard with very cold hands at times. They have really put in the hard efforts and they deserve the rewards.”If just one more wicket had fallen in the day, Sri Lanka might have even left the field on even terms with their hosts. If two marginal lbw calls had gone their way early on, who knows, Sri Lanka could even have been ahead.The temperature is not forecast to climb higher than 13C on day two. If Sri Lanka finish the innings without having spilt a single catch in such conditions, 10,000 kilometres away, their fans may not be able to hold back joyful tears.