Australia were halfway towards their target to launch a home World Cup campaign with a win before Yadav turned it around

Andrew McGlashan in Sydney21-Feb-20202:47

Spinners can always turn the game for us – Kaur

Alyssa Healy was back in the runs, Australia were halfway towards their target with a run-a-ball needed and eight wickets in hand to launch a home World Cup campaign a long time in the making. Then it all changed.The ball after bringing up her fifty with a six, Healy chipped a flighted leg-break back to Poonam Yadav who held her nerve following a big full toss. From there, Australia’s innings unraveled as she caused havoc with her googly. Yadav, the leading wicket-taker in T20Is over the last two years, picked up three more in her next 11 deliveries and was only denied a hat-trick when wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia made her one mistake on an evening where she was otherwise outstanding behind the stumps.

The Law that denied Yadav a fifth wicket

Over 17.3: Poonam Yadav to Gardner, 1 no ball, what was that? Grubber, bounces twice, sneaks through the legs and rattles the timber. Gardner hangs on and chats to the umpire. Since it bounced twice before reaching the crease, it is a no-ball

Law 21.7: Ball bouncing more than once, rolling along the ground or pitching off the pitch: The umpire shall call and signal No ball if a ball which he/she considers to have been delivered, without having previously touched bat or person of the striker…bounces more than once or rolls along the ground before it reaches the popping crease

The fact Australia were all but out of the chase come the last over showed how complete the shift to India had been. In the moment it is easy to overstate the importance of something, but this had the feel of a very significant start to the tournament.With victory in front of a record-breaking crowd for a standalone women’s game in Australia of 13,432 – a healthy proportion cheering for the side in blue – India secured a sizeable step towards making the semi-finals. Conversely, if Australia are going to win a World Cup where there is so much expectation they are going to have to take a much harder route than many envisaged just a few weeks ago. They can’t afford another slip-up now.Not that the result itself should be considered a huge shock. Australia were favourites – rightly so – but only a couple of weeks ago India dusted them up in the tri-series (only to lose a final they probably should have won) and have now beaten them in the last three global events: the match at the 2017 World Cup is famous for Harmanpreet Kaur’s 171, the match at the 2018 T20 World Cup was less significant as it didn’t impact progression for either team – this one feels much closer to the former for impact, although they could yet have to do it again if they want to claim the title.

“She [Poonam Yadav] bowled the first over pretty regulation as a legspinner then slowed it up immensely after that. We probably didn’t adapt well enough.”Alyssa Healy

Yadav had not played in the tri-series earlier this month as she nursed an injured finger on her left hand that remained bandage as she smiled her way through the post-match press conference alongside Kaur. “It is painful, but when I play the match I forget it,” Yadav said. “Bowling-wise I was confident I could bowl at any time.”During her time sidelined, fitness has been her focus which has included a gluten-free diet that hasn’t exactly been to her tastes. “I am surviving on rice which I don’t like at all. [They] scold me saying, “no, you are not allowed to eat gluten.” They take it off my plate, but I understand that they are doing this for the sake of the team.”Poonam Yadav celebrates•Getty ImagesHer absence meant Australia had not seen her recently – last facing her in the group match at the 2018 tournament where she claimed 2 for 28 – and when the injury was referenced to Healy she admitted being unaware, saying she thought the tri-series non-selection may have been tactical. As it’s turned out, maybe it was a useful coincidence for India.”We prepared really well,” Healy said. “She bowled the first over pretty regulation as a legspinner then slowed it up immensely after that. We probably didn’t adapt well enough. We don’t get legspinners coming down at 60kph very often and she’s incredibly skillful.”While Yadav, who was held back until the 10th over, bowled beautifully after the early full toss, the Australians produced some poor batting and were unable to read her wrong ‘un – Rachael Haynes missed by a long way and Ellyse Perry, who slipped down to No. 6 in a curious reshuffle of the batting order, played a loose stroke across the line. Looped up at around 60kph, dipping late on the batters (and even being called no-ball for bouncing twice at one point which denied her a five-wicket haul), it preyed on their eagerness to put bat to ball on a surface that was sluggish and probably aided spinners more than the hosts would have liked.”We went out thinking it was a flat wicket and played some shots we shouldn’t have,” Healy said. “Most of the wickets that fell today were batters playing across the line in both innings, so for us we’ll have a look at that and say we didn’t adapt.””Poonam did a great job for us, credit goes to our bowlers – they trusted themselves and won the game for us,” Kaur said. “She is a very good T20 bowler, she always bowls for the team and it’s not easy to play, she is a little slower in the air. When you have to hit her, you have to show patience and very good skill.”Yadav praised the role played by Narendra Hirwani, the former India legspinner, who is on the team’s coaching staff. “Mentally he helps us a lot. He talks about understanding the bounce. He talks about we all have variations, but when to use them how to use the bounce and the right areas to pitch.”As it is for Australia, this is just one game for India, but given their victory was also fashioned after a top-order collapse, which was repaired by a career-best 49 from Deepti Sharma in the much-criticised middle-order, it was a win that made a statement. The next couple of weeks will show if they live up to it.

The opener has been shunted up and down the order so many times that he feels like each of his innings is like a fight to prove he is worthy

Mohammad Isam in Dhaka09-Mar-2020Soumya Sarkar did the job at No 3 against Zimbabwe. He was asked to do a different one in Lahore couple of months ago. Bat at No. 6 and 7. He had two opportunities but he couldn’t adapt to an unfamiliar role where he had to slog from the word go. Thrusting Sarkar into a new role looked like a desperate attempt by the team management to keep him in the squad, but it certainly wasn’t the first time the decision-makers in the Bangladesh team insisted on having him around.Even for this first T20I against Zimbabwe, conventional wisdom was to keep Mohammad Naim in the line-up, having backed him against India and Pakistan in the previous two ODI series. But it was Sarkar who came out at No. 3 after Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das had plundered 92 for the first wicket.While it was clear that Sarkar wasn’t given the specific role of clearing the boundaries, he still went after the Zimbabwe bowling. He perhaps realised that with the likes of Naim and Najmul Hossain Shanto hot on his heels and Das having captured the opening slot in the ODIs and T20Is for now, he had to get a move on.After seeing out three overs with Das, Sarkar cracked three fours and two sixes in 15 balls, moving to 36, and then in the final over, he struck three sixes off Chris Mpofu, two off the final two balls to take Bangladesh to an even 200 in 20 overs. It has been a very long time since the Mirpur crowd has seen Sarkar dominate in this manner.”I saw in the ODIs that they didn’t bowl well in the death overs so I was planning to take it deep,” he said after making 62 off only 32 balls. “I targeted one of those big overs. I have always played in the top order, and when the team has required, I have played at number six and seven. I have always tried to prove myself, but it hasn’t happened lower down the order. So I wanted to cement my place when I got out to bat today.”While this was a role he was quite familiar with, coming to bat at one down or opening the batting, Sarkar said that he had to take guidance from others when he was asked to bat in the middle or lower order.”When I bat in the top order, it is a familiar role as I have been a top-order batsman since my childhood,” he said. “I know I have to use the Powerplay fielding restrictions or build an innings. But when I am batting down the order, I ask the seniors how to bat in that position. I sometimes ask the computer analyst what I should do – go for the shots or support the set batsman. Sometimes it depends on the match situation.”Sarkar cannot explicitly say what his preferred batting position should be, as it is against the team culture in Bangladesh. He has been tried almost everywhere. He started off as a top-order batsman in ODIs and naturally he carried out the same role to the T20s. In Test cricket, too he has mostly opened the batting but the last time he went out to bat against the red ball, against Afghanistan in Chattogram in September, Shakib Al Hasan sent him at No. 8.Sarkar is a management favourite because of his class as a batsman; class that he showed in plenty during his first six months as an international cricketer. That is why it is so hard to give up on him. In the Asia Cup two years ago, even though Bangladesh needed middle-order reinforcements, it was him they ended up calling up (alongside Imrul Kayes).Sarkar didn’t do well at the 2019 World Cup, and followed it up with a 60-odd against Sri Lanka last July. He kept playing T20Is without crossing the 39-run mark. He lost his place in the Test side and possibly has in the ODI side too, unless the team management decides to bring him back in Karachi next month.Sarkar knows he has to keep improving, even though stability has been something he has not had too much of lately. That is perhaps why he feels every time he goes out to bat he has to go out of his way to nail down his spot.”I still try to maintain a high strike-rate,” he said, “But now I try to fit myself to the situation, or choose a certain bowler. If I had made better runs in India [in November], I would have held my place in Pakistan. So I am trying to hold on to my place every time I go out to bat.”

Three players talk about beating Austria 5-0 and juggling jobs with cricket

Sruthi Ravindranath25-Aug-2020When Germany women took the field for the first T20I against Austria in Seebarn on August 12, it marked the return of women’s internationals since the T20 World Cup final in March, but the series will be remembered more for all the records Germany broke along the way to a 5-0 win – two hat-tricks, the team’s first T20I century, Germany’s first T20I five-for, and their openers setting the highest unbeaten partnership for the first wicket across all T20Is.The sudden limelight was something the players weren’t used to. The livestreams of these matches on YouTube gained over 85,000 views each, and their phones buzzed with notifications from across social media handles.Fifteen-year-old offspinner Emma Bargna took ten wickets in four matches, including 5 for 9, the first five-for for Germany across genders. She says she was left a bit heartbroken to have not been able to get a hug from her team-mates – as Covid-19 protocols prohibited it – but she was dazed by the support she got on social media, including a bump of 100 followers on Instagram.”I was scrolling through my Twitter feed and I came across a tweet which said, ‘Which new cricketer are you looking forward to seeing in the future,’ and there was a reply saying, ‘Emma Bargna – I’ve seen her playing for Germany and she has real talent.’ It was surreal to me to see people actually remember my name and watching games I played in,” Bargna says.ALSO READ: Meet Anuradha Doddaballapur, the scientist who leads the German women’s teamShe was nine when she was introduced to cricket while living in England. On returning to her birthplace, Munich, Bargna, went to a women’s cricket camp with her mother, a village cricketer herself. It didn’t take the 12-year-old long to realise she had fallen in love with the game.She has been working on her technique with Germany coach Michael Thewlis, a Level 3 ECB coach who has been with the side since 2018. Thewlis first saw Bargna as a 13-year-old and says her bowling style – spin with a medium-pacer’s run-up and speed – reminded him of the England great Derek Underwood.Despite her talent, Bargna believes that cricket will remain a part-time pursuit for her, the way it is for her Germany team-mates, 80% of whom are scholars and have full-time jobs.”I don’t think me playing will pay any money, so I would have to get a job on the side,” she says. “I want to get my masters in psychology and move on to be a psychologist or a sports psychologist and work with a team.”But Thewlis thinks a few players in the team have the potential to break into English domestic sides depending on how well they perform at ICC tournaments. Last year he arranged for Bargna to play a club game for Ashington in Northumberland.Medium-pacer Anne Bierwisch took 4 for 7 in the final match against Austria•DCB”As far as the future’s concerned, five or six of the girls could definitely end up playing some professional cricket but you need to be a full ICC member nation to think of such a future,” Thewlis said. “What I can do is continue training and coaching them and chat with coaches I know across the country and give them opportunities for trials. I don’t think anyone’s there yet, but if we have this conversation this time next year and if we have a good tournament in the ICC qualifying tour, we might see some interest from the counties back in England.”Thewlis expects Bargna’s bowling to develop further over the next couple of years. “At the moment because she’s still really young and her hands are really small, it is a bit difficult for her to grip it in a way to spin it. We will spend the next couple of years with her building up to it. The fact that she’s bowling now and not getting hit very much suggests to me that she’s got great control of her line and length, which is really important.”We’re planning to get her over to the UK when the pandemic starts easing a little bit. We would give her games through the year with my women’s side in Ashington or my junior side, just to help with her development.”

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Peris Wadenpohl is a mother of a six-year old and is currently taking a course that will let her work as a kindergarten teacher, but she’s also a middle-order batter for Germany. Wadenpohl chose to skip the tour of Austria because she didn’t want to miss her son’s first day at school, but she is very focused on her training, making sure she catches up on weekends if she misses any sessions during the week.Wadenpohl, 33, took a two-year break from cricket after her pregnancy. “At the beginning it was really hard,” she says. “I took some time out. You can’t leave a small kid behind for a week. And the body also doesn’t work – everything felt heavy and difficult. When I came back, it was more hard work for me to get back on my feet. It wasn’t easy but manageable.”Over the years, Wadenpohl has been able to balance all these aspects of her life with the support of her family and her team.”We give her the freedom to say that she can’t make some of the sessions because she needs to be at home,” said German cricket board vice-president Monika Loveday. “In Austria she missed because her son started school last week. That’s an event no mother wants to miss. She has quite a big support from her family and they look after her son when she goes away [for matches].”

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Anne Bierwisch has a PhD in Toxicology and she’s also the first German player ever to take a T20I hat-trick. In the third match of the series, Austria were 41 for 4 when medium-pacer Bierwisch came on to bowl her first over. By the end of the over, she had sent back three batters for ducks and Austria were 41 for 7, eventually folding for 54. A day later, Bierwisch’s captain, Anuradha Doddaballapur, grabbed headlines with a first in women’s T20Is, taking four wickets in four balls and finishing with 5 for 1 in the match – the best T20I figures by a captain across genders.Anne Bierwisch: “We’re like friends supporting each other, helping each other out. It’s bringing out the best in us and helping us achieve all these amazing records we got in Austria”•ICCBierwisch started playing – and following – cricket only four years ago, when former Germany women’s captain Stephanie Frohnmayer asked her to join her cricket club while Bierwisch was a scholar at a research institute in Munich. To meet her international playing commitments today, she takes time off and works weekends to make up in her full-time job at a consultancy.”I love what I’m doing, so it’s fine,” she says. “I picked it up only as I started playing. Watching a lot of matches on YouTube helped me understand the game.”Our captain Anuradha is also very experienced. She’s always there when you need cricket or life-related advice. Our coach Michael is incredible too. He knows exactly what to tell each player and how he can bring the best out of them. Our team improved a lot since he picked up the job as a coach.”There’s no rivalry – we’re like friends supporting each other, helping each other out. It’s bringing out the best in us and helping us achieve all these amazing records we got in Austria.”For Thewlis too, the biggest strength of the team, unbeaten this year, is their unity.”We had a journey up to the north of Germany from Hamburg and we did some stupid stuff on the train,” he says. “We did jigsaws together as teams and they were taking pieces away from each other. We also shared what they admire about one another because I don’t think team-mates share that sort of information. You get to know what your strengths are. I couldn’t ask for a more cohesive group.”Loveday said that the players all fight for each other on the field. “Somebody pointed out we don’t have names at the back of our shirts. It just has ‘Deutschland’ and ‘Germany’ written on it. They all play for the team. The way they go about it is incredible.”

The Super Kings batsman finally got a big score, after months of uncertainty, including a tryst with Covid-19

Karthik Krishnaswamy25-Oct-2020Singles are a devalued commodity in T20s, but some singles can be important. Off the fifth ball he faced on Sunday, Ruturaj Gaikwad took one such single. It was a routine clip down to long-on, played with the turn, but it exuded a feeling of comfort, and smoothness. Head on top of the ball, a pleasing turn of the wrists.It was his first run. It felt significant because Gaikwad had been on 0 off 4 in his previous innings too, when a Trent Boult inswinger did for him.It’s a delivery that’s done for numerous batsmen over the years, some massive names among them, but a duck is a duck, and a duck to follow scores of 0 and 5 in his two previous IPL innings wouldn’t have been easy to digest.That’s the sort of run of scores which is hard to classify as poor form. He’d walked in at No. 4 in two of those innings, with the required rate climbing steeply in chases. He’d been stumped in one, run out in the other. And then there had been Boult.Oh, and that run of low scores had come after months of uncertainty. Covid-19 had cast its net over world cricket, first, and then picked Gaikwad out specifically. He had spent an extra two weeks in quarantine compared to most of his team-mates upon arrival in the UAE, and spent it in a separate space.He’d recovered and returned to training, but who knew what sort of form and rhythm he was in. The form and rhythm of his 2019-20 season – in which he’d been the second-highest run-getter in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s domestic T20 competition, made a couple of first-class hundreds in the Ranji Trophy, and scored a 93 in a List A game on an India A tour of New Zealand – must have been buried in his muscle memory, somewhere, but who knew if he’d be able to recover enough of it to make an impact in his maiden IPL season.

Obviously it was tough for me, going [into] quarantine for [a lot more] days than the other guys. Everyone was with me – friends, family, everyone was supporting me, and somewhere I knew I was practising well. I had a good domestic season last year, so I knew one knock was around [the corner], but unfortunately three matches, just got out, but the support staff, and having the captain Mahi always supporting me, it helped a lot for me

And who knew if he’d get enough of a chance. Even amid the ruins of their worst-ever campaign, the Chennai Super Kings were only able to give him scattered opportunities. The first 0 and the 5 came on September 22 and 25, the second 0 on October 23.Then, on October 25, Gaikwad got to open the batting for the second time in the season. The pitch was slow, but the target was modest. Here was an opportunity to spend some time in the middle, gauge the conditions, assess the bowling, and get used to feeling bat on ball, all over again.Four dots, and then that single.There was something about that single. Even MS Dhoni thought so.”I feel this year has been tough for Rutu also,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation, after Gaikwad’s unbeaten 65 had steered the Super Kings to an eight-wicket win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore. “He batted a bit in [the Super Kings’ pre-season camp in] Chennai, then he came back over here, and then he got Covid, which meant his quarantine was longer than some of the other players, and he also gets a very long break – he has to get back again to some kind of a batting practice. So it was tough.”Even in the last game, if you see, all of a sudden when you go in to bat, it happens in cricket, you face one of the best bowlers in the world, you nick one, it just happens in cricket, you have to be mentally strong.”You alone have to get out of it. People will try their best, the coaches will help you, but ultimately once you’re inside, you have to fight it out with your mind, and I felt he did very well, after the first single that he took and the first hit, I felt he got more and more comfortable with himself, and he knew what really needs to be done.”There was a lean, fluid elegance to that single. And then, off the ninth ball Gaikwad faced, came the “first hit” Dhoni referred to. To call it a hit would be inaccurate, because it was just an extension of the same lean, fluid elegance, against the same bowler, Washington Sundar. A glide down the pitch, a step away from the line to create room, and a checked inside-out drive. A shot that flew over the long-off boundary. Gaikwad’s head stayed down at impact, then lifted in sync with his left elbow, and he seemed to mouth an “oh” as he finished his stroke with his back leg raised behind him.MS Dhoni and Ruturaj Gaikwad during their stand•BCCIA cricketer as steeped in the game as Dhoni can sum up an innings by referring to two shots. The single, and the first hit. He seemed to be talking about this very shot when he spoke of how Gaikwad approached his innings. “He backed himself to play the kind of shots that he is known for, not looking at the big shots, just timing the ball,” Dhoni said. “Looking for a boundary, you get a six, fair enough.”, if you can time it like that. As his innings progressed, Gaikwad showed he could do it against pace too – notably another sashay down the pitch, against Mohammed Siraj, for a wristy drive over the covers; and a checked drive off Navdeep Saini, all along the ground this time, that bisected extra-cover and mid-off – but what stood out most was the ease with which he timed the ball against the spinners on a slow pitch. He was able to do this because of his footwork – either with nimble forays down the pitch or with a long, feline forward stretch, such as the one he employed to sweep Yuzvendra Chahal past the square-leg umpire.Gaikwad could afford to pick his moments, of course, given the smallness of the Super Kings’ target, and he was able to bat at his own tempo because Faf du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu kept nailing riskier shots at the other end. But even if it didn’t come in the most challenging circumstances, the innings came during a highly challenging phase in Gaikwad’s career.”Yeah, obviously it was tough for me, going [into] quarantine for [a lot more] days than the other guys,” Gaikwad said, picking up his Player-of-the-Match award. “Everyone was with me – friends, family, everyone was supporting me, and somewhere I knew I was practising well.”I had a good domestic season last year, so I knew one knock was around [the corner], but unfortunately three matches, just got out, but the support staff, and having the captain Mahi always supporting me, it helped a lot for me.”All that will have helped, but as Dhoni said, Gaikwad had to go out and do it all himself. He did that, and served up a reminder of the talent he possesses. It was a reminder to everyone else, yes, but surely just as much to himself.

Five tricky selection calls that India will ponder before the Boxing Day Test at the MCG

Nagraj Gollapudi24-Dec-2020Drop or retain Prithvi Shaw?From his backlift to his footwork, experts have picked holes in Shaw’s technique after the opener, playing only his first Test in Australia, was bowled twice in Adelaide in the space of six balls. Shaw has already made two ducks in the six innings he has batted in so far on this tour if you include the two warm-up matches the Indians played against Australia A. Still, Shaw would want to be judged after a longer trial. Should he get that?Pros: Shaw’s strength is the blistering pace at which he scores once he gets a start. A first-class average of 51.43 and strike rate of 80.96 and a century on Test debut support the idea that the 21-year-old Shaw is that rare talent that experts from around the world believe he is. Although Melbourne also has a drop-in pitch like Adelaide, the strip has tended to play quite flat in recent years, which could make life easier for Shaw. If he gets going he can help India set a strong platform quickly, and ease the burden on the middle order.Cons: Former India opener and captain Sunil Gavaskar believes Shaw plays too many shots too early and with hard hands. Dissecting his technique further on 7 Cricket, both Gavaskar and former Australia captain Ricky Ponting pointed out the yawning gap Shaw leaves between his bat and pad early against the new ball as well as the lateness of his front foot movement – he is often yet to plant his foot before he plays the ball. These are areas an expert Australia attack could continue to exploit relentlessly.Related

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Time to give Shubman Gill a Test debut?Shaw’s teammate in the Under-19 World Cup two years ago, Gill has been restless to make his Test debut ever since he got a maiden call-up to the squad around a year ago. If Shaw is dropped, Gill can open or bat in the middle order as a replacement for Kohli.Pros: Gill’s biggest strength is his classical technique and preference to play along the ground. Coaches who have worked with him point out that Gill has that extra time to play his shots, which is a key strength on fast and bouncy pitches. He also has a quiet temperament. Gill has tall first-class scores playing for India A overseas and at home including double centuries in the West Indies and New Zealand. Gill got good starts in the second warm-up match in Sydney against Australia A, scoring 43 and 65.Cons: Having started on a low note, will India be taking a risk by blooding an inexperienced batsman against a ruthless opponent at one of the most daunting cauldrons in cricket?Ravindra Jadeja would be extremely useful as a fifth bowler, but can he hold his own as a No. 6 batsman?•Associated PressCan KL Rahul take Kohli’s spot?Rahul is the most experienced batsman among the reserves to take the middle-order slot at No. 6 if Rahane and Hanuma Vihari move one spot higher than their regular positions in Kohli’s absence. A confidence player, Rahul came to Australia wearing the Orange Cap for the most runs this IPL season, which was played in the UAE.Pros: He knows Australian conditions and bowlers very well with this being his third tour. In 2014-15, he stroked a wonderful 110 in Sydney.Cons: The lack of first-class cricket. Rahul did not play in any of the two warm-up matches in Sydney, and his last Test was on the 2019 tour of the West Indies where he struggled to provide starts as an opener. He was subsequently dropped from the home Test series against South Africa and Bangladesh and not included for the two-Test series in New Zealand in February. Rahul’s struggles an opener have been longstanding. Having failed in England in 2018, he struggled once again in Australia later that year, opening, with a highest of 44 in three Tests.Should India play five bowlers?This would mean playing a second spinner in Ravindra Jadeja as an allrounder along with three fast bowlers and R Ashwin as the primary spinner.Pros: This would reduce the workload of a pace attack that is likely to include one debutant in either Mohammed Siraj or Navdeep Saini. Jadeja can provide plenty of control, as he showed while taking five wickets at the MCG on the 2018 tour, and play a holding role if need be. The other significant advantage of playing Jadeja is his experience and skill with the bat, with an improved defensive game to complement his ability to counterattack. Since the start of 2018, his average of 53.30 in Tests is the second-best among all India batsmen, and in this period he has scored six half-centuries – three of them away from home – and a maiden hundred against West Indies in Rajkot.Cons: It isn’t yet clear whether Jadeja has completely recovered from the hamstring injury that he picked up during the T20I leg of the tour, which ruled him out of the first Test. The other argument against Jadeja would be that a specialist batsman might be the need of India’s hour, given how brittle their batting proved during the first Test, and given the absence of Kohli.Is it time for India to add Rishabh Pant’s aggression to their lower middle order?•EPAShould Pant replace Saha?While Wriddhiman Saha battled injuries over the last two years, Rishabh Pant grabbed the opportunity with an impish smile, a motor mouth and let’s not forget his robust batting. After an eventful debut series in England, which included a fourth-innings hundred in the final Test at the Oval, Pant was an ever-present during India’s 2-1 triumph in Australia in 2018-19. He got starts in every innings and finished the tour hammering 159 in Sydney.Pros: In the absence of Kohli India will need solidity and big runs from at least one batsman in the lower order. Pant’s biggest strength is his intent to dominate, which Kohli said was missing when India folded inside an hour in the second innings in Adelaide last Friday. Overlooked in the white-ball segment of this tour, Pant hit a 73-ball 103 in the second innings of the second warm-up match the Indians played under lights.Cons: Before this tour, Saha was seen as India’s first-choice keeper in spin-friendly home conditions, and Pant as the preferred option away from home, where his prowess with the bat was seen as making up for any deficiencies he may have with the big gloves. But though Pant made a hundred in the warm-up game, Saha, who made two ducks and a half-century in those matches, was still preferred in Adelaide, suggesting India might see Pant’s glovework as a work-in-progress.

With several of their key players leaving for India, there is an opportunity for those on the fringes to step up

Firdose Moonda04-Apr-2021This, South Africa think, is their best ODI XI. On the early evidence of their performance in Johannesburg, you might agree. Four of the top five scored half-centuries, two of those at a strike rate above 160. They had two century stands, and an overall run-rate that was consistently close to seven. Having asked Pakistan to pull off their highest successful chase, the quicks applied pressure and made enough early breakthroughs to swing the advantage their way inside 20 overs of the opposition’s reply.Related

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Fakhar Zaman's 193 not enough for Pakistan as series level

But in the last quarter of the match, they very nearly lost their way. With only five frontline bowlers, South Africa did not seem to have enough options to stop Fakhar Zaman. Tabraiz Shamsi was particularly expensive and probably should not have bowled his final spell, especially as Lungi Ngidi had an over in hand. Pressure, as it so often has in the past, threatened to take over but Andile Phehlulwayo held his nerve in the penultimate over, leaving Ngidi to defend 31 off the 50th. Off the first ball, Aiden Markram fired in a strong throw, Quinton de Kock’s gestures led Zaman to believe the ball was heading to the non-striker’s end when it was actually heading to him and Fakhar was run out, all but guaranteeing South Africa their first points on the World Cup Super League.They have those now, and remain in contention to win just their third trophy in nine series under Mark Boucher, but we all know one victory doesn’t make a summer and this one won’t make South Africa’s. All it does is give them an indication of what they can do when most parts of their game are working, just in time for this combination to be separated ahead of the decider. Almost half the XI will leave after this match for the IPL.The debates around the squad splinterting are multi-layered, not least because Pakistan have sent a full-strength playing group to South Africa in a pandemic and one argument is that the least the hosts could do is present their strongest side too.The reality is that Cricket South Africa (CSA) cannot afford to do anything else. Apart from the fact that the CSA and the BCCI have an agreement that the April-May window will be kept empty for the IPL, CSA’s Rands are no match for the IPL’s dollars and the contracted players would prefer to earn the latter. The next question will be whether this series could have been played at another time but in a calendar affected by Covid-19 postponements and rearrangements that is unlikely, so this is what South Africa have to deal with.”I wouldn’t say I am nervous,” the captain Temba Bavuma said. “We’ll go into the (final) game wanting to win the game and fortunate or unfortunate that we don’t have our main players available, the IPL boys. At the same time there is an opportunity for the guys on the fringes to really make a play for the team.”South Africa will be significantly weakened in the bowling department in the absence of Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi•AFPLet’s start by looking at the players South Africa won’t be able to call on. At the top of the order, they’ll be without de Kock, who didn’t look entirely at ease in the middle, but managed an assertive 80, came alive in the field, was often seen in conversation with Bavuma and played his part in the crucial run-out. They also won’t have David Miller, who Bavuma said is “hitting the ball as well as he has in quite a while,” and who contributed two aggressive half-centuries in the series, including his fastest, off 27 balls today.Perhaps most importantly, their first-choice pace pack of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje are all India-bound, leaving South Africa light on attack. As you may expect, that will test their depth. Replacements include Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Junior Dala, Daryn Dupavillon, Lizaad Williams, and Sisanda Magala who bring a selection of skills including control, variation and speed but have just 13 ODI caps between them.It will also ask questions of their team balance. In these two matches, South Africa opted for only five bowlers, which does not accommodate for the possibility that one of them could have an off-day. Today that was Shamsi. The only alternative option was Markram’s offspin which was used earlier in the innings and there is no doubt South Africa will want a more threatening alternative. The IPL exits present the option for an allrounder such as Wiaan Mulder or George Linde to be considered, which could also change the length of the line-up. Currently, Phehlukwayo is in at No.7 but South Africa may prefer to move him one down and include a second two-in-one player.At least South Africa will be able to keep the bulk of the batting lineup, including those who have found form such as Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma. Van der Dussen followed up his maiden hundred with a carefree 60 off 37 balls, although he was dropped on 0 for the second innings in succession. Unlike at SuperSport Park, when van der Dussen had to drag South Africa to a competitive total from 55 for 4, at the Wanderers, he had to build on a base of 169 for 2. He took on the spinners and was particularly strong on the sweep and is exuding a confidence in himself that South Africa will want to continue. He’ll want to avoid offering early chances, but won’t complain that Pakistan aren’t taking them.Temba Bavuma struggled initially but picked the pace later on; he will be key to the hosts’ plans in the final ODI•Getty ImagesSouth Africa will also have Bavuma, who would have been disappointed not to score his first hundred as captain. The pace at which he starts his innings could become a talking point, but he caught up quickly and played an array of attractive shots. Although not always known for it, Bavuma is an attacking player, who uses his feet well, punishes the short ball and drives beautifully.What they need is for Markram to start emulating the senior pair, especially after he looked in sublime touch for his 39. Markram has been dismissed 15 times in his 26 ODI innings for scores between 20 and 49, so his conversion rate is a concern that South Africa will hope can be addressed before this series ends.Janneman Malan is likely to partner Markram in de Kock’s absence while Miller’s departure opens up an opportunity for Heinrich Klaasen to bat higher and Kyle Verreynne to play. Klaasen had a good series against Australia last year and has not had much time in the middle in this series so far but can use the final match to make a strong case to claim a middle spot permanently.The reality is that South Africa’s best ODI XI is blurry as one victory suggests it should be. There are some personnel that are obvious keepers and some positions that are still up for grabs. Although Bavuma noted that “the batting effort was much better,” than in the first ODI, he acknowledged that “it would have been nice to finish the game a lot more clinically today.”So their best XI, it seems, is yet to be decided.

Wickets like the one for the third Test might be a lottery, but as a batsman you’re not quite doomed from the start

Aakash Chopra02-Mar-20216:11

Rohit Sharma – ‘Intent wasn’t to survive but to score’

Of the 2412 Tests played so far, only 22 have ended in two days. That explains all the talk about the two-day Test match in Ahmedabad. (Of these 22 Tests, nine were played in England and two in India.)Since it’s rare that a two-day Test has nothing to do with the state of the wicket, debates about the pitch for the Test have captured a lot of mind space.So was the pitch challenging? Definitely. Was it a two-day pitch? Perhaps not.Related

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One must bear in mind that dew made batting a lot easier in the sessions under lights. The ball got really wet and that made it significantly harder for both fast and slow bowlers. It’s almost a travesty that the four “day” sessions were enough for the majority of wickets to fall, deciding the outcome of the game.There were more than a few dismissals that had only to do with the batsman’s response on a challenging surface and not so much with the surface itself. Zak Crawley in the second innings, Jonny Bairstow in both innings, Ben Stokes in both innings, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel in the first innings, to mention a few.What was it about the surface that led to so many errors of judgement, given we are talking about a lot of quality Test players here? In my opinion, there were three factors that were responsible for the batting display.Firstly, the red-soil surface for the third Test was a lot faster than the black-clay pitch for the second Test. Though there was a lot of turn on offer in Chennai, the ball came on reasonably slowly after pitching, and that allowed the batsmen to devise a strategy. Of course, scoring in Chennai also required a bit of bravado and a slice of luck, but a good few batsmen showed that it could be done. On the contrary, the pace in Ahmedabad was a lot greater and that gave the batsmen very little time to adjust after the ball had pitched.Second: the faster surface was accentuated by the extra coating of lacquer on the pink ball, which skidded off the pitch a lot more than the red ball would have, which further reduced the time to adjust or react after pitching.Thirdly, whether it’s spin or seam, consistency of lateral movement off the surface is key to batting success. In Chennai, everything spun but in Ahmedabad only a few balls did. When that happens, you’re in two minds as to which line you should play for. The occasional but significant spin in Ahmedabad forced batsmen to play for the spin – that is, to play down the wrong line for deliveries that came on straight. That explains the large number of dismissals to the straight ball. It’s not that these fine players had forgotten the art of batting and couldn’t keep the straight balls out. The viciously turning balls prior to those straight, wicket-taking balls sowed seeds of doubt.Having played the second Test on a turner will have corrupted the batsmen’s judgement somewhat too. Once the batsmen saw puffs of dust and a couple of balls turning square, the collective assumption was that this pitch was also as much of a turner as the last one.Axar Patel’s pace made him lethal on the Motera pitch•BCCISo how does one bat on a surface like this? Is survival really down to the luck one enjoys on the day? And is there a way to score runs too? Crawley and Rohit Sharma showed that it was possible.The trick to playing someone like Patel on that surface with the pink ball is to treat every ball as a slider, which comes on with the arm. The first aim should be to keep the ball from hitting the front pad, for in the DRS era you can never be too careful about protecting the front leg. But you must still plant the front foot in line with the ball and not inside it, for going too far leg side will make you vulnerable if the ball spins. And while defending, it’s vital to keep the bat in front of the pad and not beside it – which Joe Root was guilty of a couple of times in the second innings. Of course there’s the turning ball that might take the outside edge, but so be it; you can’t possibly defend both pad and edge on a surface like this.Patel’s pace made him the most difficult bowler to negotiate, for there was hardly a foolproof way of scoring runs against him. R Ashwin’s variations, on the other hand, were both subtle and less alarming. He didn’t increase his pace manifold but used the angles beautifully. Jack Leach, like Patel, enjoyed the inconsistency in turn, but unfortunately for England, he wasn’t as fast or accurate as his Indian counterpart.And that’s the other thing about spin bowling: you can only increase the pace so much, and when you go beyond that optimum, you start undercutting the ball and lose accuracy. Leach’s slowness gave some room for the batsmen to score: you could use your feet to smother the spin, sweep, and when it was a little short, you could use the depth of the crease. These were things you couldn’t do against Patel.Most challenging surfaces force the batsman’s hand a bit, for there’s always a ball that has your name on it. It might be your first ball, your tenth or your 50th. On these pitches, an overly defensive approach is untenable. One must take some amount of risk on a regular basis, provided you pick the right ball and stroke and also have some mastery over that shot. A proper sweep was a good shot in Chennai but fraught with danger in Ahmedabad. Use of the feet is important, playing shots is critical, but when and how holds the key to succeeding. All said, it’s indeed easier said than done. And it can’t be done without a huge dollop of luck.

A tournament that served as the most valuable learning experience for Associate players is all but defunct

Peter Della Penna16-Apr-2021On the journey to Test status for Ireland, a couple of iconic dates stand out to even the most casual fans: March 17, 2007 and March 2, 2011. St Patrick’s Day makes it easy to link the first date to the win over Pakistan at the World Cup, while the second is the famous night in Bengaluru when Kevin O’Brien’s World Cup record-setting 50-ball century sparked an upset of England.But how many people know the significance of October 29, 2005; May 23, 2007; November 2, 2008; or December 13, 2013? These are the dates on which Ireland clinched each of their four final wins of the Intercontinental Cup (I-Cup), the first-class competition for Associate cricket that was a key metric to achieving Full Member status. Yet the tournament – launched in 2004 as the brainchild of Bob Woolmer – has been comatose, if not completely dead, since 2017.Related

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'Leaving Dutch cricket in a better state than when I turned up' – Borren

“It was aimed at giving the players in the Associate world the opportunity to play the longer form of the game,” Richard Done, the ICC High Performance Manager from 2005 through 2020 and who oversaw the I-Cup after Woolmer, told ESPNcricinfo. “The reason for it was that the maturity level of Associate players wasn’t the same as those playing in Full Members.”Ireland played 39 first-class matches in the competition from 2004 to 2017, an average of three per year. But, since achieving Test status in the summer of 2017, they have played three Tests in four years, including just one at home – their inaugural men’s Test against Pakistan. The paucity of Tests has triggered a re-examination of the World Test Championship model – and Ireland’s absence from it along with Afghanistan and Zimbabwe – at this week’s ICC board meetings, especially when the I-Cup played such a pivotal role in Ireland’s growth into a Full Member.While everyone happily remembers the historic wins against Pakistan and Bangladesh – plus the tie against Zimbabwe – at their first World Cup in 2007, less memorable are the shellackings Ireland received: bowled out for 91 in 30 overs and 77 in 27.4 overs against Australia and Sri Lanka respectively. One could have made the case that beating Pakistan truly was the luck of the Irish.However, the same cannot be said about 2011. Sure, O’Brien may have rolled the dice during the chase of England’s 327. But the total body of work for all of the matches in group play showed extensive progress, or “maturity” in the words of Done.As far as Done is concerned, much of the credit for their continued ODI improvement can be traced back to their exposure and success via the I-Cup. Ireland had won the competition three times by the time of the 2011 World Cup.”I’ve got no doubt that Ireland managed to achieve what they achieved because of multi-day cricket, partly as a result of their team in the Intercontinental Cup but partly because they had players in county cricket,” Done said. “If you look at performances, we started to see more hundreds scored and you started to see that flow into one-day cricket. In one-day games, you can look at the size of the losses across the Associate world over time against Full Members and things like how many times they batted the full 50 overs started to increase. They lost less wickets, the run-rate started to improve because batsmen batted for longer.”Afghanistan are part of Test cricket’s newest club•Afghanistan Cricket BoardBut it wasn’t just about performances. For some, it was about getting opportunities outside of the unforgiving nature of the ICC’s limited-overs events such as the World Cricket League and World Cup qualifiers, where promotion, relegation, World Cup Qualification, ODI status and increases or decreases in funding were always at stake often based on a single tournament.”Half the battle when you don’t play a lot of cricket is that the cricket that we do play is pretty cut-throat,” former Netherlands captain Peter Borren told ESPNcricinfo. “You don’t really have that with the I-Cup because you have a game where guys have time to see whether they’re actually good enough at that level. Normally guys go in [during a white-ball match] and they’re saying, ‘Holy smokes! I have to do this from ball one.’ It makes it hard for players to learn.”While still providing a high competitive standard, the I-Cup allowed teams to take greater selection risks to find out whether a player could cut it at international level without the threat of a bad performance costing a team in the most consequential matches. Borren feels his I-Cup debut in November 2006 against Bermuda was actually the catalyst to forge a regular place in the Netherlands squad across other formats.”If you sit at a selection table and you have an I-Cup game, absolutely you’re not playing the older guy who you already know what you’re going to get,” Borren said. “He might be in the squad and he’s on the tour. But you don’t play him. You play the younger guy, who you’re not sure about. What we used to have was the I-Cup game followed by two WCL [ODI] games. That’s exactly how I got picked. I was not going to be in the first XI. But I went to the nets and bowled my ass off during two days of training and then they just picked me for the I-Cup game.”I did all right and then I was playing in the one-day team after that. So the I-Cup game was quite crucial for me then because if it was straight into the one-dayers, then I wouldn’t have played. I remember going on that tour thinking I was just going to be part of the squad. From then I was in the XI and I never really looked back. It’s a real shame these guys don’t have that to look forward to.”At one point, the ICC tied so much significance to the I-Cup that the winner of the 2015-17 edition was set to take on the lowest-ranked Test nation in a four-match Test Challenge. If the Associate won the series, they would have provisional Test status for four years. It meant that Afghanistan’s win over Ireland in March 2017 put them in the driver’s seat to win the I-Cup and face Zimbabwe.But the significance of that win was devalued a few months later, when the ICC bestowed Test status on both nations. Instead of transferring the spot in the Test Challenge to the next-highest-ranked Associate in the I-Cup – the Netherlands – the ICC scrapped the Test Challenge, arguing it had been specifically designed with Afghanistan or Ireland in mind. As for the I-Cup, which once had a budget in excess of US$ 50 million, the ICC said the only way for it to continue was on a “cost-sharing basis” with Associate members.That sparked a stirring debate at an ICC Associates’ conference held in Johannesburg in April 2019. A plan was being drawn up for a pathway to replace the former WCL Championship as a way into the World Cup. Namibia head coach Pierre de Bruyn, whose team had secured ODI status for the first time by winning WCL Division Two earlier that month, was one of the most outspoken voices questioning why the I-Cup could not be continued.”In the I-Cup, you have a game where guys have time to see whether they’re actually good enough at that level” – Peter Borren•Peter Della Penna”I was quite shocked to be honest that there wasn’t enough seriousness around keeping red-ball cricket,” de Bruyn said. “I kept on challenging management in terms of what are we going to do to keep red-ball cricket alive? We can’t just wash our hands and say, ‘Oh, well, there’s no money,’ or ‘The focus is now white-ball cricket’. We can’t do that.”We had another conference in July 2019 in Loughborough where I opened up the discussion again and said, ‘As coaches here, we want to know what are we going to do about this?’ For me, personally, why am I so strong about it? It’s possibly because I was fortunate enough to play 16 years of professional cricket in South Africa. Building a strong foundation as a young man, I had the opportunity to do it over four days, not in bloody three hours. I’m all for the razzmatazz in T20 cricket. I’m all for ODI cricket. I love it. But not at the expense of the real format that teaches you so much as a cricket player.”De Bruyn argues the lack of subsequent Tests for Ireland and Afghanistan is all the more reason why a two-tiered promotion and relegation model, a proposal which fell apart at ICC board meetings in 2016, should be revisited. That not only brings more multi-day cricket for the likes of Ireland but could reopen the Test pathway to Associates.”Why is Scotland, Netherlands, Namibia, USA, whoever, why don’t we have the opportunity to also play Test cricket?” asks de Bruyn. “Why not? Why is there not possibly a Test Division Two where those Test are four-day Tests? Ireland got Test status four years ago. Remember where Ireland was. They were nowhere. And then they built it up and got ODI status and then they got Test status. How magnificent is that? Now that door is shut for everyone else.”My question is that it is shut because there’s not even four-day cricket for Associates in the next level. We don’t have dreams? Those players’ dreams are now shattered because they cannot become a Test player like Kevin O’Brien or Niall O’Brien or Paul Stirling who dreamt about it one day. They got that opportunity as an Associate country… that gives hope to countries like USA, Namibia, Scotland, UAE and everyone else because Ireland did it from nowhere. I know that they don’t play a lot of Tests. I appreciate that. But they did play a Test match at Lord’s two years ago. That’s a cricket dream.”

“My question is that it is shut because there’s not even four-day cricket for Associates in the next level. We don’t have dreams? Those players’ dreams are now shattered because they cannot become a Test player like Kevin O’Brien or Niall O’Brien or Paul Stirling.”Pierre de Bruyn

USA Cricket has laid out a foundational plan of targeting Full Membership by 2030, but that plan is working under the premise of Test status being decoupled from Full Member obligations. Done, now at USA Cricket, still feels there is scope for USA to enter a revived I-Cup. Like de Bruyn, Done argues that a two-tiered Test structure including Associates from the I-Cup would be the perfect place to encourage the scheduling of four-day Tests.”One of the things we definitely talked about in the early days of the 9-3 model when the three were going to be playing among themselves was to take the top three out of the I-Cup, those that were not just interested but were deserving of that opportunity and actually having a competition between the bottom three of the Full Members and the top three of the [Associates],” Done said. “One of the ideas there was that when Full Members played each other, they’d play as five-day Tests and when they played Associates, it would be a four-day first-class match within the same competition.”That would not have been the first time that Full Members and Associates would be mingling in the I-Cup. Having voluntarily withdrawn from Tests in early 2006, Zimbabwe entered a team in the 2009-10 I-Cup to assist in their return to Tests in 2011. Zimbabwe finished third in the 2009-10 Intercontinental Cup behind Ireland and Afghanistan. Done holds out hope that such a structure could reemerge.”I would love to see the I-Cup come back but I don’t think there’s an appetite for it to be honest,” Done said. “If I was to push USA [officials], I’d say I think it’s the best thing we can do to grow the strength of our players to be better on the short-form stage. But these days you’re going to find that argument really hard to win because the commercial side of it, it’s easier to [broadcast] a one-day game or a T20 than a four-day game. But if you talked about pure cricket value, it was an absolute massive plus to the growth of a lot of those Associate countries over that time.”

Archer, Wood, Stone, Stokes and Co make for a formidable line-up, but Joe Root doesn’t quite have the leadership skills to match

Ian Chappell06-Jun-2021England face a couple of tough Test challenges this home summer. First up is a tilt against New Zealand, the No. 2-ranked side, followed by five matches against the top team, India.Though these two opponents present an enormous challenge, it is the Ashes series in Australia later in the year that is generating much discussion in the England camp.There’s no doubt England are a good side – they are currently ranked No. 3 – but do they have the right combination to win in Australia?In preparing a blueprint for success on bouncier Australian pitches, England only have to look at India’s last two successful tours to find a common denominator: penetrative pace bowling.If they require further confirmation of how best to achieve success, perusing their own team’s past history should suffice. There are three England series in Australia that stand out; the Bodyline tour of 1932-33, and the wins in 1954-55 and 1970-71. Those three tours all featured great England fast bowling and some imaginative captaincy.In 1932-33, England’s enforcer was the “Notts Express”, Harold Larwood, who took 33 wickets at 19.51, and ably assisted by Bill Voce and Gubby Allen, curtailed Don Bradman’s rampant run-scoring. Douglas Jardine’s tactics in employing a packed on-side field created controversy but he was a shrewd and ruthless captain. He acknowledged the need for good fast bowling and the necessity to curb Bradman’s effectiveness. The series result was a validation of his tactics, even if their application did nearly split the empire apart.In 1954-55, Frank “Typhoon” Tyson was the enforcer and he was the difference in the series. Tyson took 28 wickets at 20.82 and had capable allies in Brian Statham and Trevor Bailey. England were successfully led by the obdurate Yorkshireman Len Hutton, who slowed the over rate down in order to play on the patience of the Australian batsmen and give Tyson a breather before unleashing another onslaught.In 1970-71, John Snow made the difference with 31 wickets at 22.83. His back-up in the fast-bowling department were Peter Lever and Bob Willis. Canny Yorkshireman Ray Illingworth also shrewdly employed the economical spin bowling of “Deadly” Derek Underwood as well as himself to control proceedings until Snow was ready for another accurate spell of pace bowling.There’s a pattern to those successful campaigns that should give England cause for optimism; good fast bowling and two Yorkshire captains.In Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Ollie Stone, England possess a strong pace trio if they are fit. Jimmy Anderson will be invaluable in the day-night Test and will provide testing spells on other occasions. Stuart Broad is insurance in case of injury or fatigue. Add the dual skills of allrounder Ben Stokes and it means England have selection flexibility. They will carry a large squad to cope with bubble requirements, so other pace options will be available. India’s last tour of Australia showed the immense value of having ample and capable back-up pace bowling.England possess a potential series-winning group of fast bowlers. It is the top-order batting and Joe Root’s captaincy that should be cause for concern.The opening combination of Dominic Sibley and Rory Burns is both ungainly and unconvincing. Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood should rejoice if both names appear in the top slots on the team sheet at the Gabba. Given the skill of Australia’s pace trio, poor starts could be a death sentence for England.Root’s captaincy often lacks imagination and reason. His tendency to have long discussions with senior players is reminiscent of Alastair Cook at his worst. There’s a difference between a captain who consults and one who is uncertain; dithering is a bad look for a captain. There are times in Australia when a captain has to be imaginative in order to force the issue and this is not one of Root’s strengths.England definitely have the pace options to repeat the successes of 1932-33, 1954-55 and 1970-71. However, they won’t win if the fast bowlers aren’t complemented by strong leadership and sufficient runs.

And where does Chris Cooke’s unbeaten 205 figure in the list of highest scores by a wicketkeeper-captain?

Steven Lynch28-Sep-2021Apparently Ollie Pope was averaging 100 at The Oval before he was out cheaply in the Test against India. What is his average there now? asked Richard Walker from England

Surrey and England’s Ollie Pope was averaging 100.71 on his home ground at The Oval before the recent Test against India, when he made 81 and 2, which reduced his average to 93.31. A subsequent Championship match there against Essex produced scores of 5 and 27 not out (the average was now 89.70), which meant Pope went into the last innings of the season – against Glamorgan last week – needing to make 275 (or 175 not out) to get his Oval average back into three figures. And he very nearly managed it: when he became part-timer Hamish Rutherford’s maiden first-class victim on the final day, he had scored 274 – one short of the magic number. It left him with the Bradmanesque average of 99.94 at The Oval.Only five men have managed a three-figure average on a single ground, given as many as Pope’s 18 completed innings. New Zealand’s Devon Conway currently averages 103.07 at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, while that man Don Bradman averaged 103.17 in Melbourne. Vijay Merchant scored 5060 runs at 105.41 at the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay, while George Headley averaged 105.42 at Melbourne Park in Kingston, Jamaica. But the overall leader is something of a surprise: India’s Ashok Mankad averaged 106.30 at the Wankhede Stadium in Bombay, with 12 centuries (including two doubles) from 37 innings, 14 of them not out.What’s the highest score by someone in their first IPL match? asked Muammar Ahmed from India

The highest debut score came on the very first night of the IPL, back in April 2008, when Brendon McCullum smashed 158 not out, from 73 balls with 13 sixes, for Kolkata Knight Riders against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru. It remains the second-highest score in the IPL, behind Chris Gayle’s 175 not out (66 balls, 17 sixes) for RCB against Pune Warriors, also in Bengaluru, in April 2013.The only other debut century was by Michael Hussey, with 116 not out for Chennai Super Kings against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali in April 2008. That was also in the inaugural season of the IPL, when obviously many players made their debuts: other notable scores came from Shaun Marsh (84), James Hopes and Graeme Smith (71), Swapnil Asnodkar (60) and Gautam Gambhir (58).If we leave aside that initial season, the highest first-up scores since have been Owais Shah’s 58 not out for KKR against Deccan Chargers in Mumbai in March 2010, Devdutt Padikkal’s 56 for RCB against Sunrisers in Dubai in September 2020, and Ambati Rayudu’s 55 for Mumbai Indians against Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai in March 2010, the day after Shah’s knock.The best bowling figures on debut are also the best in IPL history: the West Indian fast bowler Alzarri Joseph’s 6 for 12 for Mumbai Indians against Sunrisers in Hyderabad in April 2019. Oddly, Joseph has so far played only two more IPL games – and failed to take a wicket in either of them. In the last, a week after his stunning debut, his three overs against Rajasthan Royals disappeared for 53.Where does Chris Cooke’s unbeaten 205 come in the list of highest scores by a wicketkeeper-captain? asked Rajiv Radhakrishnan from England

Glamorgan’s captain – and wicketkeeper – Chris Cooke made a career-best undefeated 205 in a run fest against Surrey at The Oval last week, in the final round of 2021 County Championship matches. Meritorious as it was, Cooke’s innings is a little way down the list of the highest scores by keeper-captains, which is headed by the Australian Billy Murdoch, who made 321 for New South Wales against Victoria in Sydney in 1881-82. The only higher score than Cooke’s in the Championship is 266, by Dane Vilas for Lancashire against Glamorgan – captained, as it happened, by Cooke – in Colwyn Bay in 2019.The Test record is 224, by India’s MS Dhoni, against Australia in Chennai in 2012-13. The only other Test double-century by a keeper-captain came only a few days later, when Mushfiqur Rahim hit 200 for Bangladesh against Sri Lanka in Galle. There have been only 14 other hundreds: for the list, click here.Ollie Pope’s current average at The Oval, after his last innings against Glamorgan, is 99.94•Getty Images for Surrey CCCHow many men have been run out for 99 in a Test? asked Raju Suresh from India

Sixteen men have now suffered this fate in a Test. The first was the Australian opener Bill Brown, against India in Melbourne in 1947-48 (this was not one of the occasions he was famously run out at the bowler’s end). And the most recent instance involved another Australian, Shaun Marsh, also against India in Melbourne, in 2014-15. It’s also happened five times in one-day internationals.Rikki Clarke, who has just retired, played his last Test match as long ago as 2003. Has anyone played on longer in first-class cricket after their final Test? asked Mick O’Brien from England

The long-serving Surrey allrounder Rikki Clarke, who has retired just short of his 40th birthday, played two Tests for England, against Bangladesh in 2003-04. He signed off with 55 in the second match, in Chittagong (now Chattogram).Clarke played on for almost 18 years after his final Test, which is especially notable as he was a county regular for all the remaining time. There are around 40 men with longer apres-Test careers, but few of them were regular players by the end. One such was Warwickshire’s Willie Quaife, who played his last Test in 1901-02, but carried on at county level until 1928, when he was 56 (he scored a century in his only match, after a full season in 1927). Two others have longer spans: Lord Harris captained England in his fourth and final Test, against Australia at The Oval in 1884, and turned out for Kent against the Indian tourists at Catford 27 years later in 1911, aged 60 – but he had not played regular county cricket since the mid-1880s.The overall leader is the legendary Indian CK Nayudu, whose last Test was at The Oval in August 1936: he played a first-class match well over 27 years later, in Nagpur in November 1963, not long after his 68th birthday; he had been a Ranji Trophy regular until 1956-57, when he was 61.Clarke’s last match was the run-soaked encounter mentioned above, against Glamorgan at The Oval. Showing a wry sense of humour, Clarke tweeted after the second day, having fielded through Glamorgan’s total of 672: “Didn’t have 177 overs in the dirt planned for my last game.”Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions