The last time India toured England, Vijay was the only batsman from either side to face more than 1000 balls in the series. Four years on, with the identity of his partner still unclear, he remains their No. 1 opener

Nagraj Gollapudi30-Jul-20183:07

In the zone : M Vijay

Is opening in Test cricket the most daunting task? The opener walks in, takes guard, looks around and finds the vultures already closing in first thing in the morning – from the slips, from gully, perhaps from short leg. The character of the pitch is not known, even though the bowler’s characteristics are. Your team needs you to see off the new ball. But you don’t even know what is going to happen in those early minutes.The best opening batsmen in modern Test cricket have used different methods to conquer the nerves. Virender Sehwag thrashed the new ball. Matthew Hayden charged the fast men. Justin Langer meditated with that eagle-eye stare.M Vijay? He likes to watch the new ball closely and only put bat to it if he really has to.Later this week, Vijay will mark his guard against James Anderson and Stuart Broad, England’s two highest wicket-takers of all time. India might not know who their second opener is yet, but Vijay’s spot is secure, especially after his gritty half-century against an Essex XI on a green, seaming pitch. The fact that India still are deliberating over whether to pick Shikhar Dhawan or KL Rahul as the second opener makes Vijay that much more valuable.On the 2014 tour of England, Vijay was India’s best batsman. He was the third-highest run-maker overall, and the only batsman on either side to face more than 1000 balls. Vijay faced 1054 deliveries to score 402 runs at an average of 40.20, with a century and two half-centuries, one of them a match-winning third-innings 95 at Lord’s.It was the middle of a productive period for Vijay, at a time when India played back-to-back-to-back-to-back Test series in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia. He faced more balls than any other India batsman on those tours, scored more runs than anyone other than Virat Kohli, and was one of only three Indian batsmen with 40-plus averages.The method he employed was heavily reliant on watchfulness and judgment outside the off stump. Of the 996 balls he faced of fast bowling on that 2014 England tour, for instance, Vijay left alone 403 (40.46%) and defended 351 (35.24%) – this meant he played other shots off less than a quarter of the balls he faced from the quicks.This January, when India toured South Africa, he seemed to depart somewhat from that method, making a pronounced shuffle across his stumps and leaving the ball less often. In the first two Tests, his leave percentage against quicks was 35.33, down from 40.00% on India’s previous tour of the country in 2013-14.He was out caught keeper, slips or gully in three of his first five innings of the series, before the old Vijay reappeared in his final innings of the tour, a three-and-a-quarter-hour display of vigilance on a Wanderers track of spiteful inconsistent bounce. He “only” made 25, but his innings laid the foundation for India to set a target well beyond South Africa’s reach. In that innings, he left 61 of the 127 balls he faced, all from the quicks, or an astonishing 48.03%.Marco Longari/AFP/GettyLast week at Chelmsford, Vijay showed enough character to survive challenging conditions early on when the Indians lost Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara in the first half hour and then Ajinkya Rahane about an hour after electing to bat. Vijay was the only batsman to face more than 100 balls (113) during his nearly three-hour stay at the wicket.Calling the conditions “tough” for any opening batsman, India coach Ravi Shastri said an opener in that situation would need to be “prepared to go through the grind”, which Vijay did remarkably well. For Shastri, what also stood out was Vijay’s mental discipline to deny the bowlers an opening at his end; by the time the middle order arrived, conditions had become easier to bat in.Leaving the ball might come across as boring. Doing it well takes hours of understanding which ball to leave, when to stay patient, when to drive, when to rotate strike. A day before the warm-up match, which was India’s first day of training with the red ball on this tour, Vijay was on his own on a practice pitch to the side of the training nets. He was padded up, had his gloves on, and his helmet.For about 15 minutes, like a pugilist doing shadow-boxing, Vijay shadow-practiced with the bat. Facing an imaginary bowler, he defended under his eyeline, moving his head first, then the feet, then the bat. He played the square drive, the cut, ducked a bouncer, pulled one. And, yes, he left a few alone. To his left Virat Kohli’s bat was making all the noise. Vijay was unruffled.On Monday, at the training nets, Vijay faced Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur. When Pandya and Thakur began describing the imaginary fields they had set, Vijay didn’t let them finish. “Bowl to your strength. I’m playing normal,” he told them. His sole focus was on watching the ball, and only then deciding what to do.Shastri observed Vijay from silly mid-off in a teapot stance. He would go on to ask Vijay what guard he had taken. “Hmm, leg-middle.”Vijay missed twice as he tried to play the ball on the up. He stayed calm. He defended the next ball confidently, with bat meeting ball close to the pad. Vijay just wanted to feel normal. He did not want to be pushed by bowlers challenging him with their fields.Asked to define the challenge of being an opener, Alastair Cook, a veteran of 156 Tests and approximately a million deliveries, was embarrassed to start with clichés. “You have got to be a pretty good judge of what to play and what not to play,” Cook said. “You need to put the bad ball away. How many more clichés can I come up with… need a little bit of luck along the way. It is a really challenging place to bat, certainly in the English conditions with the Dukes ball. One thing probably I will look back on when I do stop will be how proud I was of my longevity by being an opener against the new ball, against the fresh bowlers. But if you get past that, you know you have got a great platform.”Cook recounted what his mentor Graham Gooch had told him early on: “Get past the new ball, you are in your 30s or 40s you have got your eye in. As the bowlers are getting tired you can really set up games of cricket.”That’s Vijay’s responsibility and challenge: to set up games for India.

With an average of 25.80 from 15 Tests in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia, should he continue being one of India’s first-choice openers?

Ankur Dhawan14-Sep-2018After another overseas defeat, India find themselves in a quandary. What to do about Shikhar Dhawan? A prolific run-getter at home, Dhawan has struggled to make the same kind of impact on the road, in conditions where the ball moves as though it has legs and a mind of its own. He finished the England series with a top score of 44 in eight innings, which meant the middle order was exposed to the new ball far too often.It wasn’t for lack of effort, but there were no tangible rewards for Dhawan. Dropped at Lord’s following two dismissals to loose strokes in the first Test at Edgbaston, he came back with a changed approach, and tried hard to play close to his body and resist the temptation to drive on the up when the carrot was dangled. Inevitably, though, Instinct prevailed over discipline, and even after getting his eye in at the Ageas Bowl, he was lured into poking at deliveries in the channel outside off stump, either driving away from his body or defending on the walk.The most successful team in England over the last decade or so has been South Africa. For all the talent that ran through their middle order, their backbone was their captain and opener Graeme Smith, who scored the ugly runs, which allowed the Amlas and de Villiers to score the pretty ones. That’s not to say Amla and de Villiers didn’t score tough runs, only that Smith’s solidity gave them more freedom against a usually older ball. Dhawan has generally shown a brittleness incongruent to seeing off the shine.Virat Kohli’s India discovered the value of a solid opening stand in Nottingham, the only time the openers blunted the new ball in both innings, putting on 60 both times. It was no surprise that those starts were followed by middle-order partnerships of 159 and 113.In Southampton, however, old maladies resurfaced for Dhawan – perhaps because they had never really gone away.At the beginning of India’s previous cycle of overseas tours, in early 2014, Dhawan played two of his best knocks, back to back, a century in a fourth-innings chase in Auckland and then a 98 in Wellington. The salient features of both innings were common – meditative discipline outside the off stump until the shine wore off, patience, and a desire to play as straight as possible.The adjustments he made, however, never became habits. As a consequence, he hasn’t repeated those scoring feats outside Asia (excluding the West Indies) since.When India toured England in 2014 his outside edge and the away-moving delivery had reunited. In Nottingham, where England’s No 11, James Anderson, made 81, Dhawan was caught behind pushing at a full ball from the same bowler for 12. Twice in the next four innings, Anderson squared him up, exploiting his tendency to fish at the late-moving ball without getting across with his feet to cover the line, and had him caught in the slips.Zoom back to the just-concluded series in England, and Dhawan has been out caught by the keeper, slips or gully five times in eight innings. And while one would expect a high percentage of such dismissals among openers in these conditions, he hasn’t necessarily fallen to unplayable deliveries that threatened his off stump or moved prodigiously late. They’ve generally been full, wide and swinging further away, luring Dhawan, who has eventually taken the bait. In the last Test at The Oval he was lbw twice, and the second-innings dismissal in particular seemed like a consequence of his struggles outside off stump: he fell over, going too far across his stumps in an attempt to cover the away movement, and was lbw to the inswinger.Getty ImagesOnly once since that first innings in Wellington – when he made a second-innings 81 in Brisbane – has Dhawan managed to face 100 or more balls in an innings in the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries. The most he has managed in England is 85 balls. In his 14 outings in England, Dhawan has faced an average of 35.93 balls per innings.By the end of the previous cycle of away tours, Dhawan’s average in the SENA countries was 29.00. It has now fallen to 25.80.Not much seems to have changed between the previous cycle of tours and this one. The weaknesses Dhawan has shown on this tour of England are the same ones that led to India dropping him after the third Test of their previous tour here. They are the same weaknesses that cost him his place for the final Test of their Australia tour of 2014-15.Why then was he part of the first-choice opening partnership on their tours of South Africa and England this year? Perhaps this was because India played all their Test cricket in the subcontinent or the West Indies between the previous SENA cycle and this one. In these conditions, Dhawan averaged 51.78, scoring three of his four hundreds against Sri Lanka and the other against Bangladesh.There were accomplished innings against spin in that period, such as his first-innings hundred in Galle in 2015, but his technique against fast bowling wasn’t really tested that often. On the rare occasion when he did come up against seaming conditions, as in the Kolkata Tests against New Zealand in 2016 and Sri Lanka last year, he did not entirely convince with his handling of the new ball.Now, after the series defeats in South Africa and England, India’s next Test assignment is a home series against West Indies. It could be another chance for Dhawan to score runs in conditions where his technique won’t really be scrutinised to the fullest, but India will have to be mindful that a sterner test awaits them thereafter: in Australia, against one of the best pace attacks in the world.

Stats highlights from the Guwahati ODI, where Kohli and Rohit brought up their fifth double-century partnership in the format

Bharath Seervi21-Oct-2018246- The partnership between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, which is India’s highest while chasing in ODIs. The previous best stand in chases was 224 between Kohli and Gautam Gambhir against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in 2009. Overall, this is the fifth-highest for any team and the second-highest for the second wicket and lower in a chase.Only three batsmen have got to 20 hundreds in fewer ODI innings than Rohit Sharma•ESPNcricinfo Ltd5- Double-century partnerships between Kohli and Rohit, which is already a record. No other pair has more than three such stands. However, this is the first double-hundred stand between the two while chasing. Kohli has been part of six of the nine 200-plus stands for India while chasing.14- Centuries for Kohli as captain – the second-most for any player. Only Ricky Ponting is ahead with 22 hundreds as captain. Kohli has got to his 14th ton as captain in just 50 innings while Ponting made 22 tons in 220 innings. Overall, it was Kohli’s 36th century in ODIs and 60th in international cricket. It was his 29th at the No. 3 position, joint-most with Ponting.20- Hundreds in successful chases for Kohli, in just 75 innings. He has six more than Tendulkar who has 14 such hundreds. Kohli averages 98.25 in successful chases, the best among all batsmen with 1000-plus runs in successful chases. This was also the eighth time Kohli had scored a century while chasing a 300-plus target. No other batsman has more than four such hundreds.6- 150-plus scores for Rohit in ODIs, the most for any player. He went past Tendulkar and David Warner, who have five such scores.20- Hundreds for Rohit in ODIs. He became the fourth batsman for India and 13th overall to score 20 or more ODI centuries. He has taken 183 innings to reach the landmark – the fourth-quickest among the 13 to reach 20 centuries. Hashim Amla (108 innings), Kohli (133) and AB de Villiers (175) have done it in fewer innings.6- Instances of two batsmen scoring 140 or more in the same innings in ODIs. Rohit’s unbeaten 152 and Kohli’s 140 is the first while chasing.7.73- India’s run rate in their successful chase is the sixth-best for any team in a chase of a 300-plus target. The target of 323 is the second-biggest successful chase by any team against West Indies.4 – Number of times Rohit has hit eight or more sixes in an ODI. Only Chris Gayle has done it on more occasions. All other India batsmen combined have done it only twice – MS Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan on one occasion each. Martin Guptill, AB de Villiers, Shahid Afridi and Kieron Pollard have done it three times each.

Matt Roller11-Nov-2018The story of England’s tour to Sri Lanka this time four years ago is well known. Just as plans for the upcoming World Cup should have been falling into place, Peter Moores’ side were thrashed 5-2 in a disastrous ODI series. They responded by sacking Alastair Cook as captain, dropping their promising young allrounder Ben Stokes, and conspired to bow out of the World Cup in embarrassing fashion as they were beaten by Bangladesh in Adelaide.While Cook’s axing and Stokes’ omission headlined the aftermath to the tour, the series was another man’s last in international cricket. After a quietly impressive home summer with the white ball, Harry Gurney had looked like a lock-in for the World Cup. His left-arm seamers were underestimated due to an ungainly action, but had proved reasonably effective, and offered the ODI attack some variety and a viable option at the death. But in the course of his 24 overs in Sri Lanka, Gurney took one wicket and conceded 158 runs, and has never pulled on the England shirt since.Looking back, Gurney is honest about his shortcomings as an ODI bowler. “I refuse to be one of these bitter, deluded people,” he tells ESPNcricinfo. “I can see why I didn’t make it into the World Cup squad at the time I got dropped, and I can see why I haven’t played any more 50-over cricket for England. I’m quite philosophical about that.”But there is a side point about Gurney’s England career which goes unnoticed. In his two T20 international games, Gurney was excellent, taking 2 for 26 and 1 for 29 in his four-over allocations in games where nine an over was par for the course. And yet, with T20Is tacked onto the end of ODI series and his stock low after that Sri Lanka tour, Gurney never had the chance to kick on from that start.”I’m honest, when I look back, I only played two T20 games for England, and I did really well in both of those: I think I was a little bit unfortunate to lose my place in the T20 team,” he says. “In the T20 format, perhaps I was a little bit unlucky. Am I a better bowler than I was back then? Yeah, I probably have improved a little bit. Any cricketer does year on year in order to survive: you have to, because elite sport keeps evolving.”Indeed, those who follow the domestic game will tell you that, despite his discarding by England, Gurney’s reputation as one of the best death bowlers on the county circuit has continued to grow. In 2017, he was a key part of Nottinghamshire’s white-ball double, taking 13 wickets in the Royal London Cup and a further 21 in the Blast, including record figures of 7 for 36 on Finals Day, and no bowler has more T20 Blast wickets in the past three seasons.It was no great surprise, then, that the Melbourne Renegades jumped at the chance to sign Gurney for the second half of the Big Bash season this week, in a data-driven pick that sees him share an overseas spot with Pakistan’s Usman Khan Shinwari. “I can’t remember where the first contact came from,” he says, “but I had an inkling through Dan Christian [Gurney’s Notts team-mate, who signed from the Hurricanes in May] that they might be interested, or that I might be on a shortlist, and I handed it over to my agent to deal with.”I’ve spoken to Andrew McDonald [the Renegades coach, and Gurney’s team-mate in Leicestershire’s 2011 Friends Life t20 campaign] on the phone, and from what I’ve read I think he’s said they wanted a left-arm seamer to balance their attack. They’ve gone for me and Usman, and hopefully we can do the business.

I can see why I haven’t played any more 50-over cricket for England. I’m quite philosophical about that.

“When the phone rang I was over the moon. The Big Bash is probably the most high-profile T20 tournament in the world other than the IPL, I would say, and it’s one I’ve always admired from afar. I absolutely love Australia as a country, I’ve spent a fair bit of time there over the years, so to get an opportunity to go and play in it is a bit of a result really.”The prospect of bowling on hard, Australian wickets might be daunting for some, but after honing his skills on the flattest one-day pitch in England, Gurney is looking forward to the challenge. “Within England, Luke Fletcher, Jake Ball and I tend to find it easier away from home, that’s for sure. If you can bowl economically at Trent Bridge, you’re going to find it easier when you go away from home. I’ll have to adapt, but I relish the challenge of doing that.”Gurney’s resurgence leads him to an intriguing point in his career. While an England recall looks improbable at 32, he is confident that a good winter for the Renegades – and in the T10 league next week – could help him crack franchise cricket.”Honestly, I’d say breaking into the franchise scene is more on my radar at the moment than an international recall. If, ultimately, I end up pulling on an England shirt again in the T20 format, then that’d be a fantastic offshoot, of the main target, but I want to get into franchise cricket, and give a good impression, and hopefully keep doing that for a few years.”Despite finishing 2018 as Nottinghamshire’s leading Championship wicket-taker, would Gurney consider going white-ball only in the future? “I wouldn’t rule it out. It’s a case of taking it year by year, month by month or even week by week. So much can change – over the next 12 months, my absolute dream scenario and my absolute worst-case scenario are poles apart. Of course, I’m committed to all forms at the moment, but I can see a time in the future where I do only play white-ball cricket.”My personality type and the way I go about my business would lend itself quite well to that lifestyle. I’m quite an independent cricketer, I have specific ways that I train, and I’m quite stubborn about that – I’m able to do it on my own, in isolation. One thing that you hear people say about the franchise lifestyle is that it can feel a bit isolated and lonely, but I think I can deal with that.”Gurney’s outlook on the game is refreshing, and helped in part by his interests outside of cricket. He co-owns a pub company with county team-mate Stuart Broad, and thinks it has helped him avoid heaping pressure on himself.”Since I started the pub company, my career if anything has gone on an upwards trajectory, rather than being a distraction. Life after cricket is something that I have always given a great deal of thought to throughout my career, because I’m aware that once your career finishes, you’re in your mid-to-late thirties and all of a sudden you’re out of work and you need a job. I wanted to put myself in a position where I’ve got something to soften the blow.”

It was clear the CA leaders were eyeing more substantial roles in cricket from the start, and it is now beyond doubt that they will forever be referred to as a duo

Daniel Brettig03-Oct-2018Lillee and Thomson, Parish and Steele, Border and Simpson, Taylor and Slater, Langer and Hayden… Peever and Roberts? While they may not be storied cricketers, it is now beyond doubt that Cricket Australia’s leaders will forever be referred to as a duo.In 2012, on the day CA unveiled its first independent Board members after a lengthy constitutional battle with the state associations, the biggest fuss was made over Jacquie Hey becoming the first female director in the history of the governing body.For all the goodwill that appointment may have engendered, however, it was the announcement of the other two directors that has had a far greater impact on the direction of the game – six years later they are the soon-to-be-re-elected chairman David Peever, and the new chief executive Kevin Roberts.Right from the start, it was clear that both Peever and Roberts were eyeing off more substantial roles in cricket. Peever was soon to announce his retirement as the managing director of Rio Tinto in Australia, a job less impressive than its title and associated more with lobbying in Canberra than running the mining company. Roberts, Melbourne-based though a former New South Wales batsman, was younger, more outwardly polished with no shortage of ambition.In the intervening years they have conducted a sort of relay run to the top of Australian cricket: in 2014, Peever won the blessing of the Board to replace Wally Edwards as chairman of CA; in 2015, Roberts left the board to become executive general manager of One Team, strategy and people, replacing Alex Wyatt, a role that evolved into making him the link man between CA and all the states.Things upped in pace in 2017, when Roberts was commissioned with the task of leading MoU negotiations with the Australian Cricketers Association, while concocting the Board’s confrontational strategy and intent to breakup revenue sharing in close cahoots with Peever. It looked at the time like a rehearsal for the chief executive’s job, with the Board being in broad agreement that James Sutherland, no matter how well he had done his job, had simply been there too long.The MoU saga has been well and truly documented, but it suffices to say it ended only after players went unemployed for nearly a month, an Australia A tour of South Africa was cancelled, a Test tour of Bangladesh was threatened, and with CA and the ACA under direct pressure from the Federal Government to sort out their differences post-haste. Roberts, for a long time the spearhead of CA’s industrial relations attack despite his history as a former player, was sidelined at the finish because the ACA refused to work with him. Compromise was left to Sutherland and the team performance manager Pat Howard, and when the deal was finally signed, neither Roberts nor Peever were anywhere to be seen.Nevertheless, the cutting back of the time available to negotiate allowed for a hasty collective agreement in which CA was able to further narrow the definition of Australian Cricket Revenue – the pot of money out of which the players’ percentage is paid – while also securing a significant extra pool of money for the game’s lower levels. The end, Peever and the board reasoned internally, had justified the means. They did so without knowing how much this pay war would damage CA’s standing or its relationship with the players, precious few of whom were impressed by Roberts’ personal entreaties to them “as an ACA life member” during negotiations.Roberts, meanwhile, grew ever more prominent within CA’s Jolimont offices and was even chosen instead of Sutherland to present jointly to the ICC at one of its meetings early this year alongside Peever. Certainly, it was clear to other long-term executives in the building that Roberts had the imprimatur of the chairman to replace Sutherland whenever the time came, as the likes of chief financial officer Kate Banozic and head of operations Mike McKenna jumped ship after their heads thudded into the organisation’s glass ceiling.Elsewhere there were those with ambitions to be Sutherland’s successor. In New South Wales, both the chairman John Warn and the chief executive Andrew Jones saw themselves as eminently capable, having jointly presented to the CA Board about their achievements in Australia’s largest cricket state. In Western Australia, the WACA chief executive Christina Matthews could point to a record in building a strongly performing organisation out of chaotic beginnings.All thought their chances had increased when the South Africa tour took a turn towards lawlessness, sandpaper, cheating and disgrace for David Warner, Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft. The national team had pointedly ignored the counsel of Sutherland and the Board to smarten up after their boorish display in the first Test of the series, and were left spiralling the entire organisation into a hole at the very moment of critical broadcast rights negotiations.This pressure did not appear to bring the best out of Peever, as revealed in his email attack upon the Ten Network’s American owners CBS, while the paper trail back to the MoU also seemed to blot the copybook of Roberts. Certainly, the conduct of the chairman and the likely succession plan for Roberts were too much for the former Wesfarmers chairman and CA director Bob Every, who quit in protest at Peever’s decision to seek a second three-year term.Cricket Australia chairman David Peever (left) and chief executive James Sutherland at the ICC annual conference•IDI/Getty ImagesIt is believed that Every initially thought he was not alone in his reservations, before finding himself isolated at the moment of key discussion. The circumstances of his exit, ultimately revealed by The Australian, reflected a level of internal discord not seen at CA Board level since the then chief executive Graham Halbish was sacked by his chairman Denis Rogers as far back as 1997. Sutherland, counselled keenly by his predecessor Malcolm Speed and his first chairman Bob Merriman, had invariably managed to avoid such scenes despite many junctures at which they may easily have flamed up. This, at least, is a lesson Roberts has learned.”I’m always conscious that actions speak louder than words, and James has imparted advice on me, but I’d say the most powerful advice has been through his actions,” Roberts said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anyone respect their office as much as James, the office of CEO at CA, and that is something I have deep respect for as well. Not through James’ words but through his actions over the 14 or so years that I’ve known him, he’s been a great role model for any Australian who leads any organisation in terms of the way that he respected that responsibility. So it’s been through his actions more than through his words.”Those actions had included sending the head of integrity Iain Roy to South Africa to lead a code of conduct investigation of the Newlands affair. Roy, a long-serving and well-liked member of CA’s management team despite the many complexities and difficulties of his role, returned home to the holidays he had broken away from as an acclaimed operator. Yet on the day of his return, Roberts and the head of legal Christine Harman deigned that he march out of the building without so much as a farewell. Many were left to ask, not for the first time, what is the reward at CA for a faithful servant?Simon Longstaff’s review of the governing body, commissioned to help calm the hysteria after Newlands, was furnished with many more such examples of internal disquiet, but its recently submitted substance did little to sway Peever, in particular, from pushing for Roberts to replace Sutherland. This despite the emergence of another candidate in the Board director John Harnden, who possessed not only the internal knowledge espoused by Peever in his reasoning for choosing Roberts, but also a wealth of outside experience in sports administration and event management.Whatever the credentials of others, or the fee paid to the recruitment firm Egon Zehnder, Roberts remained confident of his ground and of his chances throughout. In the minutes after his appointment was formally announced, he answered the obvious question – how could he be expected to drive significant change to the organisation when he had for so long already been a senior part of it?”I think that’s a very fair question,” he said. “Just as I spoke about James’ actions as opposed to his words, I’ll look to be judged the same way and I’m not going to spin anything to people right now on that front, but what I will say is we’re committed evolving, to learning, and to changing for our changing times, just as the organisation has done over its long and proud history. So there’s no words to describe that today, but happy to be judged by my actions and our actions as an organisation.”As for Roberts’ administrative doubles partner Peever, shortly to become only the second CA chairman since World War II to serve two consecutive terms, there were words that belied a lofty corporate background, and years of full-time political maneuvering. “I see the role of administrators as being a lowly servant of something much greater than ourselves,” he said. “We get the privilege of being part of these things for short times and our job is to make sure and do everything we can to make sure that the game is as strong and as sound in 30 years, and stronger in fact, than it is today.”As a duo, then, Peever and Roberts will be joined together in history. What sort of place they occupy will be determined by whether or not their actions can overcome the strong perception that this has been a joint pursuit of power all along.

At the age of 30, it’s easy to overlook allrounder’s claims. But he offers a complete package to the selectors

George Dobell in St Lucia06-Mar-2019While all the talk in recent months has been of Jofra Archer’s chances of forcing his way into England’s World Cup squad, there is another Barbadian-born bowler who might be worth further consideration.Chris Jordan has not played an ODI since September 2016. He does not bowl quite as fast as Archer and, aged 30, does not possess quite the same amount of long-term promise as his 23-year-old protégé.But, as he showed in the first T20I of the series against West Indies, Jordan remains a highly skilled and experienced cricketer who might just be at the peak of his powers.His key contribution in this game was taking the wicket of Chris Gayle. That was a feat that proved beyond his England colleagues for much of the ODI series (to be fair, they dismissed him in every innings but not before he had thrashed them into the stands a few times) and the manner in which he did so – a well-directed yorker just wide of off stump – suggested he had some skills which could prove valuable. Remember, England’s seamers appeared either reluctant or unable to bowl the delivery on demand in the ODI series so Jordan’s demonstration may have been timely. He had also hurried Gayle with a well-directed bouncer.But the wicket of Darren Bravo was just as impressive. So bamboozled by Jordan’s well-disguised slower delivery was Bravo, an experienced player, that he could only spoon the ball into the air. Jordan, demonstrating another part of his game that might give him an edge, made good ground and clung on to a one-handed diving catch. It was a reminder, if any were required, that he may be the best fielder available to England. Having such a man in the squad – even if they don’t make the XI – must be useful.In all, he delivered 10 dot balls from the 18 he bowled. He was hit for two boundaries; both from the hugely talented Nicholas Pooran.It’s perhaps worth comparing Jordan’s performance with some of his apparent rivals for a spot in the World Cup squad. David Willey used the new ball well here, generating just enough movement to prevent Gayle from sizing him up, and came in at No. 7 to see England over the line. He didn’t bowl after the third over of the innings, though, and by then Gayle had struck two of his final four deliveries for six.What can we read into that? Perhaps that, unless Willey takes one of the new balls, he is of limited use to the ODI side. He rarely bowls at the death and only twice in his last 25 ODIs has he delivered his full allocation of 10 overs. One of those occasions was in the defeat to Scotland in which he conceded 72.And while his left-arm variation would be welcome, it seems unlikely he will dispossess the likes of Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and, perhaps, Archer in the tussle for that new-ball role.Might it be relevant that Jordan didn’t bowl at the death? Could it be that he was instead being given an opportunity to show what he could do in the middle-over period (he bowled the fourth, sixth and 14th overs) in which Liam Plunkett has been so proficient in recent years?It’s possible. Plunkett does seem to be in gentle decline and was England’s most expensive bowler here. It would make sense if England were at least mindful of the need to consider alternatives, though it would be a surprise if he didn’t make the squad.It seems more likely that England simply had more trust in Tom Curran than Jordan at the death and view him as the more likely part of their World Cup plans. Eoin Morgan, the captain, later explained that, with Pooran recently dismissed, Curran’s slower balls to a pair of new batsmen were simply the better option available to him.Curran ended up with four wickets, too, as reward for his control and variations. Plunkett and Jordan do not offer quite the same package of skills, either, with Plunkett’s height and back-of-a-length cutters having a proven track record. Jordan’s variations are impressive, though, and he probably could offer England options in all portions of an ODI innings.We probably have to be careful about making assumptions regarding ODI suitability from a T20 match. Jordan bowled only three overs, after all. But some of the skills – the control, the variation, the ability to perform under pressure – are clearly transferable.It’s certainly not a simple case of Archer and Jordan competing for one place in the World Cup squad. There could, in theory, be room for both or indeed, neither. As things stand, England are considering the likes of Liam Dawson and Joe Denly as spin-bowling all-rounder.But is there really any need for a third spinner in a 15-man squad? With Joe Root capable of supporting Adil Rashid – who bowled beautifully here and would not have conceded a boundary had Curran not made a fearful hash on the fence – and Moeen Ali in the spin bowling positions and Alex Hales having the batting reserve spot all sewn up, it is a position that could instead go to another seamer. Jordan remains an outsider for that spot, but he didn’t do himself any harm here.

The successful chase of 359, arriving in a World Cup year, is a massive injection of confidence for a side that seemed to lack clarity of purpose in ODI cricket

Daniel Brettig11-Mar-20196:35

The more pressure before a World Cup, the better – Handscomb

A glance down the list of highest ODI totals batting second in the entire history of the format offers a few salient observations. The first of these is that England have four of the top 10, all scored since the last World Cup in 2015 to underline their status as likely favourites for this year’s edition of the tournament.The second is that Ashton Turner’s blazing bat in Mohali, building on a platform set by Peter Handscomb and Usman Khawaja, has edged Australia into the all-time top 10. This has come about in the year of a World Cup where high scoring and judicious use of Twenty20 skills at pivotal times in the 50-over game will doubtless be critical to the outcome.What makes this more significant is that this is the first time Australia have got anywhere near some of the marks set by England in recent times, having never previously ventured beyond 350 when batting second. As an ODI team, in fact, Australia have very seldom operated as effectively batting second as they do going in first: Mohali is the only score in the nation’s top 35 ODI tallies to have been made when chasing.Understandable then, that Handscomb raved about the confidence injection this result will provide. “This is a really big moment for us,” Handscomb said. “We haven’t had too much of a debrief yet but it will be something along the lines of ‘Take this belief, take this confidence, this momentum, keep building’. Because what we’ve done today is something special … this gives us so much confidence. Not only going into the next game but looking forward to the World Cup.”To chase down 360 [359] against India in India, the boys are going to take so much confidence from that, not only going into the next game but going on to Pakistan and looking forward to the World Cup. This is a really big moment for us and we’re really enjoying it.”The more pressure you can put yourself under going into a World Cup is great. We’re starting to see that guys are learning, guys are more relaxed out there and understanding what they can do within their own game and then executing to their strengths, both with bat and ball. It’s very, very good prep.”Getty ImagesFor a long time, it has looked as though Australia’s 50-over team are operating without enough clarity of purpose whether with ball or bat in hand. To some degree this has been because Test cricket has taken priority in between World Cups, leaving the ODI side commonly at the mercy of the need to rest and rotate exhausted players. Equally, some of the players first picked for the ODI team have found themselves not at their best even when chosen – Aaron Finch’s misadventures this summer being a prime example.However, after an abortive attempt to stock the team with hitters at the top, not least the now discarded Chris Lynn, Australia started to make some progress in their ODI performance against India at home at the start of the year. Ironically, they did so by slowing down, returning more conventional stroke-makers like Usman Khawaja and Handscomb to the team to help modulate the scoring rate through the middle overs.Confidence has been slow in arriving, and big scores in the regions recently explored by England have also been elusive. But as Handscomb pointed out, the team coached by Justin Langer and led by Finch have gradually been building up a sense of consistency and ownership about the way they play, and the way they intend on attacking the challenge of a World Cup.ALSO READ – India, meet Ashton Turner: Australia’s new finisher“If you look at our one-dayers in Australia, we made good progress there, we started to develop our own batting plan or batting signature,” Handscomb said. “We keep getting better with each game and we started off nicely with two T20 wins here that gave us a bit of confidence and then we were close in the first two games and then we’re starting to click come these two games and hopefully that builds momentum going forward.”This gives us so much confidence. If you look back on the second T20 as well, where we chased down 189 at Bangalore, that was the start of a little bit of belief there and then to come out and do it again showed it’s not a fluke, it’s actually a bit of consistency starting to come into this team. And batting plans add a lot of confidence. We’re going to execute those plans. Going forward this is a big moment and hopefully we can continue to build on this feeling we’ve got at the moment.”Circumstances and selections have also played a role, and will continue to do so in the run to the Cup. Travis Head, a fixture in the ODI side for most of the past three years, now finds himself on the outer due to Handscomb’s utilisation in the middle order. More immediately, a broken thumb to Marcus Stoinis – after numerous failed chase attempts where his tendency to soak up dot balls has been exposed – meant that Turner was able to gain an opportunity that he claimed with murderous relish in the closing overs at the PCA Stadium.4:42

Dasgupta: Turner played the dimensions of the ground well

“We’ve seen Ash do this in the Big Bash before, we’ve seen him do it a couple times now,” Handscomb said. “But for him to come out on the world stage, second ODI and play an innings like that is phenomenal and he’ll take a lot of confidence going forward as well.”The thought process was take it as deep as possible because anything can happen. We knew the wicket was going to be good, getting better with dew coming in later, so we just worked on trying to go a run a ball and then hopefully back-end the innings, which worked out beautifully with Ash Turner doing his job.”I think it became a T20 chase about 15 overs out, it was getting up over 10 an over and close to 12. So we had to look to pull the trigger a couple of times and bring it back. Ash picked his bowlers beautifully, he knew who to target and then other guys to sit on and respect. For a guy playing his second game, that was a beautiful, mature knock.”There are a few caveats to the Mohali result, not least the dew irritating India’s bowlers, and the fact that the hosts, with MS Dhoni rested, are in World Cup preparation mode having settled on their preferred “signature” long ago.This is without mentioning the looming returns of Steven Smith and David Warner, which will create fresh selection headaches for Langer and company even as Turner, Handscomb and Khawaja have staked their claims. Certainly Shaun Marsh’s hold on a spot is now looking increasingly wobbly.But the statistical dent this chase made in Australia’s previously grim record batting second, and the confidence the team will derive from doing so, means this is a significant result. For the first time since the last World Cup, Australia looked like a team capable of challenging not only India, but England.

England, meanwhile, don’t have history on their side against their next three opponents at this World Cup

Shiva Jayaraman21-Jun-20191 Number of wins Sri Lanka had managed in their last 12 ODIs against the teams in this World Cup. That win, too, had come against Afghanistan earlier in this World Cup, after they were bowled out for just 201. Their previous win against any of the top teams was against England, in Colombo, in October last year. England’s earlier loss in the tournament had come against Pakistan, another team who had not been fancied to beat them, having lost 11 straight ODIs before that match.Watch on Hotstar (India only) – Fall of wickets – England’s innings1999 The last time England beat Sri Lanka in a World Cup match, at Lord’s. Since then their record against Sri Lanka has been 0-4. Until the 1999 World Cup, England had won six of the seven meetings between the teams at the World Cup.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 Other England losses in ODIs while chasing targets of 275 or less since the 2015 World Cup. That solitary defeat came against Bangladesh, in Dhaka, when they were chasing 239 and were bowled out for 204. This was only their second loss in 24 such matches since the last World Cup.0 Other England losses while chasing targets of 275 or less at home in ODIs since the 2015 World Cup. This was their first such loss in 13 such matches.ESPNcricinfo Ltd51 Wickets in the World Cup for Lasith Malinga, who played a stellar role in Sri Lanka’s win with a haul of 4 for 43. He became just the fourth bowler to take 50 or more wickets in the World Cup. Glenn McGrath, Muttiah Muralitharan and Wasim Akram are the others to achieve this distinction. Click here for a list of the top wicket-takers at the World Cup.0 Number of World Cup matches England have won against their next three opponents – Australia, New Zealand and India – in the last 27 years. Their last such win came against Australia at the SCG in the 1992 World Cup. Since then, they have played these teams on 10 occasions and lost three times against Australia, four times against New Zealand, and twice against India. One other match against India in the 2011 World Cup ended in a tie. Their last win against India in the World Cup was in 1992, and against New Zealand in 1983.

43-year-old allrounder’s stunning end-of-season performances ‘blew everyone out the water’, admits captain Sam Billings

Valkerie Baynes in Canterbury24-Sep-2019If you’re looking for a sure-fire way to change the mind of someone who has all but written you off, Darren Stevens has the answer: spend a good few hours right under their nose showing them the very best you have to offer.Stevens did just that last week when he shared a record 346-run partnership with captain Sam Billings to rescue Kent from 39 for 5 before claiming 5 for 20 in Yorkshire’s second innings to seal a mammoth 433-run victory in the penultimate round of the Championship.That stand with Billings included a career-best 237 for Stevens (off 225 balls, no less) and resulted in Kent immediately issuing a statement saying they were keen to talk to ‘Stevo’ about a new contract. It also came opposite one of the men who had been party to a decision a few weeks earlier not to offer 43-year-old allrounder Stevens a deal for 2020.ALSO READ: Stevens hammers career-best 237 to spur contract talksOn Tuesday, with the ink barely dry on a one-year contract renewal and Billings singing his praises, Stevens was looking forward to playing his 16th season with Kent next year. The club announced the deal as day two of their final-round match was washed out at Canterbury with Hampshire 80 for 3 in reply the hosts’ first-innings 147.It was an announcement that illustrated the beauty of sport. For all its brutality when bodies are broken by injury and minds shot by a loss of form, futures can turn on one or two passages of play which rejuvenate confidence and regenerate performance.Of course, Stevens’ story is not quite that simple, but almost. He also scored 88 and took 10 wickets against Nottinghamshire the week before his star turn at Headingley. In his past five Championship matches, Stevens has scored 445 runs at an average of 55.63 and has taken 34 wickets at 12.65.And Billings – who incidentally made 138 and 122 not out in that match against Yorkshire to become the first man to score two hundreds in a Championship game at Headingley – was only one element of the Kent hierarchy who had decided they wanted to “go in a different direction” to his friend, whom he credits with helping him rise through the county’s ranks.”The club as a whole, and I was included in this process, [along with] Darren, wanted to make a decision, and at the time I think everyone would say ‘fair enough’ that a deal wasn’t on the table and we were going to go in a different direction,” said Billings.”But since then you can’t argue with his performances. We are in the performance business and performances regardless of age and circumstances, should be rewarded.”

“I got better as the summer went on so I sort of put [the ball] back in their court”Darren Stevens

In Billings’ words, “there’s performances, and then there’s just blowing everything out of the water and showing everyone up actually”.”There’s not many times someone gets two hundreds in a game and doesn’t get spoken about at all,” Billings added with a laugh. “He gets 200 and five-for and steals the limelight.”I’m chuffed for him. He really wanted to keep on playing and keep on playing here. So a message for players moving forward is that circumstances can change – it’s up to you as a player to go out and do it. Full credit to Darren: he’s gone and done that and more.”Everyone’s won in this situation. His performances have been absolutely outstanding. It’s great to have him for one more year. I definitely wouldn’t have liked to face him next year.”Stevens, who turns 44 in April, is “ecstatic” at being able to stay at Kent.”I’ve known for a few years that it’s going to come to an end, and it will come to an end,” Stevens said. “Playing-wise, out on the pitch I just felt like I still had another year in me. It does help a lot that my body’s still in one piece – surprisingly, but it is.”It was a little bit disappointing, thinking it was all going to come to an end. That’s made me relax a little bit more as the season’s gone on and I suppose that’s got quite a big part to play in how I’ve played over the last four or five weeks. I got better as the summer went on so I sort of put [the ball] back in their court.”Darren Stevens celebrates with Joe Denly and Zak Crawley•Getty ImagesOver the past six years, Stevens has been on rolling contracts at Kent with fresh negotiations in the middle of the year about the following season.”Then at the start of this year, it was the same thing, we had a chat in June-July, but it was more on the club wanting to go in a different direction and I still felt that I had a lot to give,” he said.Despite enjoying a T20 loan spell close to his Leicester-based parents at Derbyshire – he was not selected for their Finals Day side which lost their semi-final to Essex – not having to uproot his young family was an attractive proposition, as was being able to continue doing coaching work at Kent with a view to his post-playing career.But he was prepared to do it, such was his desire to play on.”I spoke to Jonathan Trott yesterday about a few things, even he said, ‘you’re a long time retired so the way you’re playing at the minute why retire?’ It will be the same next year. It might be harder mentally, physically, but then I find that more of a challenge,” Stevens said.”It will be me fighting me rather than anything else and it will be up to me then if I get runs or wickets. Then I suppose the conversation will come again in July sometime about what happens.”While he feels he still has a year left in him, Stevens is not yet prepared to limit himself to that. But one thing is certain. His vast experience was a major asset during that sliding doors moment last week in Leeds.”If I look back at my career, there’s been a few situations where I’ve had to go in when we’re in trouble and sometimes got us out of it, quite a few times not got us out of it, but I reckon I used everything I had in the think tank to get us out of that situation,” he said.As for that conversation in the middle of next year: “I think I’ll be seeing how I feel.”

How many players have made a smooth transition from junior cricket to internationals?

Bharath Seervi17-Jan-202067 – Number of players from the 2000 edition of the Under-19 World Cup who went on to get international caps, the most from any single World Cup edition. The next best is 64, from 2004, while the 1998 tournament had 60 players who went on to represent their country in international cricket.11 – Players from the Bangladesh and Zimbabwe Under-19 teams of the 2004 World Cup who were picked for their international sides, the most from any team in a single edition of the Under-19 World Cup. The only other team from which ten players were selected in their international team was from Pakistan’s 2000 Under-19 team.0 – Individuals who have gone on to play international cricket from South Africa’s Under-19 squad of World Cup 2010. Till 2012, there had been at least one player from each full-member squad of every Under-19 World Cup to have represented the senior team in international matches, except South Africa’s 2010 squad. Fromthe Under-19 World Cup in 2014, England, New Zealand and West Indies are the teams who have not yet picked any player for their national team.3 – Players from the first Under-19 World Cup, in 1988, who went on to score 20,000-plus runs in internationals – Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Sanath Jayasuriya. All three scored 10,000-plus runs in ODIs, while Lara also passed that landmark in Tests. No other Under-19 World Cup player has passed these milestones.24 – Batsmen from the Full Member teams who played Under-19 World Cups, and then went on to score centuries on their Test debuts. Since 1988, 48 players have scored centuries in their first Test, of whom half had played the Under-19 World Cup. The first of those players was Pravin Amre, who played the 1988 Under-19 World Cup, while the last was James Neesham from New Zealand’s Under-19 team of 2010. The most such instances was from the 2000 World Cup: Michael Clarke, Shaun Marsh, Mohammad Ashraful, Taufeeq Umar, Jonathan Trott, Jacques Rudolf and Hamilton Masakadza played that tournament and then went to score Test centuries on debut.13 – Bowlers who have played in Under-19 World Cups and taken five-wicket hauls on Test debut. The first of those was Narendra Hirwani, who took a record 16 wickets on Test debut a month before he played the 1988 Under-19 World Cup. The last was Josh Hazlewood, who played the 2010 tournament and took 5 for 68 on Test debut against India in 2014.4 – Batsmen who scored a century on ODI debut after being part of the Under-19 World Cup – Martin Guptill, Rob Nicol, Phillip Hughes and Michael Lumb.3 – Bowlers who took five-wicket hauls on their ODI debuts after playing in the Under-19 World Cup – Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and Kagiso Rabada. Rabada also became the second player to take a hat-trick on his ODI debut (Tajiul Islam was the first).Players from Under-19 World Cups who have had prominent international careers:1988 – Mike Atherton, Mark Ramprakash, Nasser Hussain, Nayan Mongia, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Aaqib Javed, Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Chris Cairns, Brian Lara, Jimmy Adams, Ridley Jacobs.1998 – Graeme Swann, Harbhajan Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Virender Sehwag, Kyle Mills, Lou Vincent, James Franklin, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Prasanna Jayawardene, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels Ramnaresh Sarwan.2000 – Mitchell Johnson, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke, Ian Bell, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Brendon McCullum, Danish Kaneria, Graeme Smith, Jonathan Trott, Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu.2002 – Mohammad Ashraful, Irfan Pathan, Ross Taylor, Umar Gul, Hashim Amla, Upul Tharanga, Farveez Maharoof, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy, Elton Chigumbura, Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor.2004 – Mahmudullah, Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara, Suresh Raina, Angelo Mathews, Farveez Maharoof, Upul Tharanga, Denesh Ramdin, Elton Chigumbura, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya.2006 – David Warner, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Martin Guptill, Tim Southee, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera.2008 – Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Dinesh Chandimal, Thisara Perera, Darren Bravo.2010 – Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Ahmed Shehzad.