This day-night Test was announced in May, but the Indian team, it turns out, got next to no time at all to work with the pink ball

Annesha Ghosh30-Sep-20213:31

Smriti Mandhana – ‘I had to tell myself don’t look at the dot balls, just keep playing’

“There are so many breaks of play, you have to focus, you have to switch off, you have to again focus…”Stoppages in play, as Smriti Mandhana touched upon while talking of the allure of the longest format as India’s maiden day-night Test kicked off in the Gold Coast, can go either way for batters. Some prosper, summoning heaps of concentration. Others lose their focus to the stasis of unscheduled breaks.On Thursday, it could have gone either way for Mandhana too. A full 110 minutes had elapsed since lightning, and then a heavy downpour, halted India’s post-dinner session at Carrara Oval. When play recommenced, ahead of the 34th over, India were on 101 for 1. A maiden Test century was on the horizon for Mandhana it seemed, but so was more rain, and the latter came first, Mandhana going to early stumps unbeaten on 80 (she now has the highest score by an Indian woman in Australia in each format, including 102 in ODIs and 66 in T20Is). That she had got so far on this rain-hit day was quite a feat, and not just due to having to deal with the stoppages and the elements.India, it emerged on match eve, had their first taste of the pink ball only two days out from this match. Though the BCCI announced the match in May, few efforts had been made over the four months since to help the potential squad attune to the pink ball. Mandhana, for her part, had had only two nets sessions prior to the match to adapt to it all – complications with visibility, a different seam, varying swing, and other behavioral variables the pink ball might throw up. Not least in a format that she, and India, have only played twice – both this year – across over seven summers.She had made a personal attempt, she said after the day’s play, to acquaint herself with the pink ball during her two-and-a-half month tour of England stretching from June through late August, across India duty and the Hundred.”During [the] Hundred, I had ordered a pink Kookaburra ball, just to keep it in my room because I knew there’s going to be a Test match, so that I can at least look at the ball and understand (how it behaves),” she said. “I have actually not batted against it, other than the two sessions. But the pink ball was there in my kit bag for the last two-and-a-half [or] three months. I don’t know why did I carry it. I thought I’ll have a session [but] I really didn’t get the time to do that.”Smriti Mandhana’s driving through the offside was sublime•Getty ImagesThe unfamiliarity with the pink ball hardly came through, though, over the 70 runs Mandhana had scored against Australia’s seven-pronged attack until the first rain break. The exceptions were when she precariously bisected two gully fielders on 7, early in her 93-run opening stand with Shafali Verma, and then, on 18, when she uppishly sliced through a heavily patrolled backward point – a part of the field where she’s perished several times in recent outings.In these moments, Mandhana had some coaching from her 17-year-old partner. “If I, say, chased one ball outside [off], she came to me and said, ‘ (It’s way outside off; don’t offer a shot),” Mandhana said of Verma.She also got an unwitting helping hand from Australia, as she waltzed to her third Test fifty in just 51 balls. She latched on to the width offered by their pacers, and was not challenged by the innocuous bounce of the drop-in surface which did not offer the carry of the ODI surfaces in Mackay.”At the start they bowled quite short,” she said. “Considering the one-day wicket in Mackay, today was completely different. It was flat, it wasn’t as hard as they would have loved. The lengths they bowled in the one-day [games] were similar [to today’s,] but those suited that wicket…”The Australia captain Meg Lanning’s field settings didn’t offer her much resistance either. A vacant deep-square leg for long stretches of her innings meant she could showcase her famed back-foot prowess. She pulled, mostly risk-free, for 60 out of 70 runs that came in boundaries until the first rain stoppage.”I think the plans that they had was to bowl up [full], so I’m sure because of that they didn’t have the deep-square-leg fielder,” Mandhana said. “After some time, they did have a deep-square-leg fielder… I was just trying to play the ball [on merit] and even if the fielder was there, I would want to play that [pull] shot but in a different direction.”Spin was introduced soon after Mandhana reached her fifty, and she went on to show another side to her batting. She decelerated from that juncture, to the point of striking at under nine against offspinner Asheigh Gardner, who has dismissed her four times in ODIs, the most she’s got out to a bowler in the format. She had a 41-ball boundary-less sequence, scoring only three runs. This from a batter who had earlier in the day carted debut quick Darcie Brown for four fours in an over.She adjusted the pace of her innings exactly as needed, Lanning said after play. “Her tempo was excellent in this innings. She was punishing the bad balls, defending the good ones. It’s pretty simple, but when you can actually execute that, it’s certainly very effective. She sort of counter-punched a bit. We were just a bit off with our lengths; she was really punish[ing] us. So far she’s been extremely good… and showed how to adapt to this format.”Mandhana differed somewhat with Lanning’s assessment. “I didn’t have a tempo,” Mandhana said. “I just told myself watch the ball and play accordingly. Don’t look at the scorecard, don’t look at the strike rate, whatever. At the start, I think I started like a one-day [innings]… When you have a few shots, you [can] complicate things for yourself as a batter, so I was trying to keep it simple. If the first ball is something which is my strength, I’ll go for it.”As for the stoppages, Mandhana had plenty of advice coming her way. “The people [India players] who were sitting out were really helping me. Whenever I came out, whoever was sitting outside, on the bench, they kept telling me, ‘You again have to start from zero. You have done nothing [so far],” she remembered, chuckling.”They kept telling me again and again because I have this tendency of going for a casual shot. So, I think, they kept me pumped up throughout those breaks, and I think they had a big contribution to make me focus the way I was able to focus.”

Wood brings fury, Moeen some late guile, and Curran a magic moment

Andrew Miller15-Aug-2021At the fourth time of asking, and in England’s hour of need, a team performance has broken out at Lord’s. On a two-paced Sunday, it was the support cast who carried the fight – Mark Wood with fury, Moeen Ali with late guile, and Sam Curran with a goldenballs moment to dismiss Virat Kohli, and send shuddering echoes of 2018 through India’s then-rattled dressing room.Though Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane sucked the juice out of the contest in a bloodless 50-over stand (critics might suggest Lord’s unparalleled drainage system has done likewise to the pitch), England’s perseverance came up trumps in the end. Two delicious deliveries late in the day – a spiteful lifter to hand Wood his third wicket, and a moment of magic from Moeen to the dangerous Ravindra Jadeja, has cranked this contest open with a new ball due first thing.”It’s a fantastic Test match,” said Moeen at the close. “It’s great for me personally to come back and to be a part of it, and hopefully tomorrow morning we can bowl them out and chase the runs down.”To judge by the pitch’s character towards the back end of the day, that won’t be a remotely straightforward prospect. With a lead of 154 overnight and four wickets standing, and Rishabh Pant primed for one of his habitual counterattacks, Moeen warned that a target in excess of 220 would be “difficult but not impossible”.”They’ve got Pant, but we’ve got Jimmy,” he added. For those Monday-morning punters, with time to kill and spare £20 notes in their pockets, there could be a treat in store. But either way, given India’s first-day scoreline of 267 for 2, and their dominance of the big moments at Trent Bridge last week, it beggars belief that England are currently favourites to take a 1-0 lead going into next week’s midpoint of the series.Related

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For that, the fourth-day credit belongs largely to Wood, whose efforts all day long could not be faulted – except, of course, the hideous moment when he over-did it, hurtling up the slope at the Pavilion End and jarring his right shoulder as he tumbled over the boundary. Long gone are the days when senior fast bowlers could get away with sticking out a cursory size 12 while escorting a shot to the rope, but this was taking his commitment to self-harming extremes.Moments earlier, however, in what would end up being his solitary over of the evening session, Wood had produced the moment that made England’s disciplined afternoon of toil worthwhile. Pujara had no answer to a spiteful lifter on off stump, and as he traipsed off for 45 from 206 balls, he took with him a passion-killing methodology that India had been rather grateful to fall back on, after their top-order had come off second-best in their bid to own the morning tempo.In the first innings, Wood had been overlooked until play resumed after lunch, with England preferring on that occasion to focus on guile in helpful conditions, not that the tactic paid off in a 126-run opening stand. But this time, the hackles were up from the get-go – fuelled, no doubt, by Anderson’s war of words with Jasprit Bumrah as the players left the field on the third evening. And when Ollie Robinson was withdrawn after just two new-ball overs, with Wood given his licence to cut loose instead, it was clear a different dynamic was about to enter the game.The gambit paid off handsomely for England. KL Rahul, the first-innings centurion, snicked a 93mph lifter to depart for 5, but it was Wood’s duel with Rohit Sharma that reframed the terms of the debate. England’s first bouncer of the match at Trent Bridge had unseated him on the hook on that occasion, and now he was suckered by a similar trap. Wood traded a flat pull for six into the Grandstand for a scuffed steer to Moeen three balls later, and at 27 for 2, India had lost both of their openers before their deficit had been overturned.”I was very pleased for him,” Moeen said of Wood’s impact. “He was telling me in the first innings that he doesn’t get the wickets he would like, and I said these things can happen and they will come. The way he bowled was fantastic and it was a great catch by me at deep square leg!”He fully deserved his wickets and the wicket of Pujara was massive. The way he ran in and banged the wicket with a soft ball on a dead wicket… I thought he was fantastic today.”Out came Kohli with fire in his eyes, to be met inevitably by Anderson – who extended his new-ball spell to a ninth over, and his war of words to an umpteenth volume. The stump mics took on the story: “You swearing at me again are you?” Kohli was overheard saying at one point. “This isn’t your f****** backyard”.Anderson’s notches on the Lord’s honours board might beg to suggest differently, but either way, the heated atmosphere seemed to be suiting England’s purposes perfectly well at that stage. And when Curran – wicketless in his first 41 overs of the series – suckered Kohli with a big booming outswinger across his bows from over the wicket, India were three-down with a lead of 28, and suddenly desperate to pour cold water on the day.”The chat in the afternoon was just to hang in there, basically,” Moeen said. “Don’t try and search too much, just stay in there and something will happen. They came back strong and played really well, but I thought we still managed to contain them really well. We knew if we could get one out we could go bang-bang.”It was in the face of this changed scenario that Moeen’s work began in earnest. In his only previous Test this year, at Chennai back in February, he had picked up eight wickets but been milked at close to four an over – a consequence of red-ball rust on the one hand, and an over-eagerness to exploit helpful conditions on the other.Moeen Ali got his chance at Lord’s•AFP/Getty ImagesThis time, however, he was aided by a pair of opponents with nothing more than survival on their minds, as well as by the same uncluttered mindset that Jonny Bairstow had spoken of after his first-innings fifty – an acceptance of his circumstances after so long without any meaningful red-ball practice, and a willingness to go with the flow as he extended into his role.”It’s probably easier to go from bowling quicker [in white-ball cricket] to slower than it is probably going slower to quicker,” Moeen said. “On the first day I went wicket-to-wicket, one-day style, trying to go at two, three an over. And in the second innings, it was just staying patient really. I found that the hardest without many overs under my belt, but I managed to get a couple of poles at the end which was quite nice.”I was trying to give Root the control [on the first day],” he added. “I’ve struggled to do that in the past, and I think coming in on the back of not bowling much probably helped. I felt good through the lack of bowling, sometimes I over-bowl in practice, and get into bad habits. I just made sure my basics are good and it’s managed to pay off.”It helped too that Wood’s energetic experimentations, particularly in the first innings, had included regular stints from round the wicket, creating a juicy dinner plate of rough outside the right-hander’s off stump, with which he unsettled Rahane particularly, and eventually unseated him at the second attempt, after a bad miss at point from Bairstow on 31.”Initially I bowled a bit too straight today, but when I did bowl one wider it spun and I was pleased with that,” he added. “I struggled to consistently bowl there for a bit, but I still felt like something was going to happen.”Outside of the ubiquitous excellence of Anderson and Root, very little of England’s performance in this match has followed any known script. Each of the extras, as it were, has been ad-libbing his way through the contest, creating their own interpretations of what Test cricket needs to look like in the cluttered summer of 2021. But somehow, and extraordinarily, it’s in danger of coming together, for all that Pant in the first instance, and Jasprit Bumrah and Co. thereafter, will have plenty to say in the denouement.”We are a bowling unit,” Moeen reiterated. “Jimmy got five in the first innings, Woody and I got a few each. It takes a full team effort as a bowling unit, and that’s what we’ve been in this game.”

Fall-out at county is bound to be painful, but necessary, after seismic few weeks for cricket

George Dobell08-Nov-2021Sometimes you have to tear things down to rebuild.That is the stage we are in with Yorkshire County Cricket Club. It will pain many to hear the club they love – and some of the players they have admired – criticised over the next few weeks.But it is a necessary phase. The first step towards rebuilding was acknowledging there was a problem. After many months of denials, Yorkshire – or at least their new chairman – has done that.There is still much to admire in this great cricket club: it still produces fine players; it still plays admirable cricket. A cancer has long existed within it, though. And instead of cutting it out years ago, it has been allowed to grow. There is, no doubt, a racism and inclusion problem across society and within the sport of cricket which reflects it. But the situation in Yorkshire, at club and county level, seems far worse than elsewhere.The evidence for this? Copious first-hand testimony. Testimony that would have been given to cricket’s authorities if only the complainants had any confidence in them. Instead they turned to the media.Remember, it has been reported in recent months that four Yorkshire players of Asian heritage – Adil Rashid, Ismail Dawood, Azeem Rafiq and Rana Naved – have made complaints of racism at some stage. We know, too, that several other players of the same heritage have made complaints in private. Until now, they have largely been ignored.Most of all, there has been Rafiq. Partly because he was a man with nothing left to lose – never forget, he lost a child in the midst of this saga – he wouldn’t give up. Not when the club refused to listen, not when his union told him he didn’t have a case and not when all the people who told him he would have their support melted away. He might turn out to be the most stubborn man in Yorkshire. And that’s a competitive field.At every stage, his story shows up a grim culture. For a start, he should never have faced the abuse he did. He should never have been called ‘Rafa the Kaffir’; he should never have been called a ‘P**i’; he should never have felt he had to drink alcohol to fit in.More than that, though, he deserved to have his complaints taken seriously. He should never have been driven, in despair and frustration, to the brink of suicide. And, even after it took the media’s intervention to ensure there was an investigation, he deserved better than the sham of a report which concluded that use of the ‘P**i’ word was “banter”. At every stage, the game let him down.Azeem Rafiq refused to give up in his bid for vindication at Yorkshire•Getty ImagesLord Patel spoke well on Monday. In acknowledging a “flawed investigation” and “the need for change” he came as close as he could at this stage to admitting institutional racism at Yorkshire. In the end he stopped just short of that conclusion, but it may well follow in the coming days. It’s impossible to reach any other conclusion, really.Patel and Rafiq have much in common. Both were born overseas but grew up in Bradford and Barnsley respectively where the scourge of racism was a daily threat. Both have had their fair share of turning blind eyes and deaf ears to such behaviour. And both are now in a position where they will not do so any more.There is a word of warning required here, though. Roger Hutton, the former Yorkshire chairman who resigned last week, held many of the same views as Lord Patel. He attempted to settle Rafiq’s legal action in April and, initially at least, felt he could bring the club’s executives with him “on a journey” of education and improvement; words Patel also used on Monday. In the end, that reasonable attitude counted against Hutton. Patel must know that some journeys are best made without baggage. There are those at the club who have had every chance to educated themselves and change. Now is the time to cut them loose.Let’s be clear: there is no way Yorkshire can repair its tattered reputation with the same executive team in place. Equally, there’s no way most of the current coaching team can remain; they have presided over the most shameful episode in the club’s history. There has to be a new start at Yorkshire.There will, no doubt, be more uncomfortable moments in the days ahead. Neither Rafiq nor Hutton, the chair who stepped down last week, look set to hold back when they speak to the DCMS (the Department of Culture, Media and Sport) hearing next week. Equally, in the coming days, it seems inevitable that more of Yorkshire’s report into his allegations will leak out. There are other prominent players – including prominent former England players – mentioned in the report. In the case of at least two of them, whom ESPNcricinfo has chosen not to name, Rafiq’s complaints against them were upheld. Given that his complaint against the player who called him a P**i was not upheld on the grounds that it constituted “banter”, those ‘upheld’ verdicts look damning.It’s not just Yorkshire who will be embarrassed, either. The Professional Cricketers’ Association also have things they can learn from the episode. Their representative in this case admitted taking no notes from the meeting in which Rafiq made his complaints and then not recalling a specific complaint on the issue of racism. As a former Yorkshire player who had colleagues who were accused in the meeting he was, no doubt, in a difficult position. But the process failed Rafiq and the PCA know they have to find better ways to act in such conditions. It may be relevant that every one of their staff – and they have 24 full-time members of staff – is white. The representative who worked on this case, whom ESPNcricinfo has chosen not to name, has left the organisation in recent days.An anti-racism banner hangs outside Yorkshire’s Headingley Stadium in Leeds•AFP/Getty ImagesAnd then there’s the ECB. They have, in recent days, done all the right things. And, to most reasonable judges, they handled the Ollie Robinson affair pretty well, too. But they were aware of this case many months ago (Tom Harrison first spoke to Rafiq in August 2020; they received his statement in November 2020) and, for all the warm words they have uttered, we are still awaiting tangible action. Perhaps it is inevitable that the wheels of progress in such a bureaucratic organisation move slowly and there will be, no doubt, much benefit in the establishment of a “Commission for Equity in Cricket”. But sometimes we need to see sanctions and suspensions to know there are bites behind the barking. In short: words are easy. Now it’s time to shut up and show us.It’s going to take a long time for each of these organisations to win back the trust of non-white communities. In recent months, those of us working on such stories have been inundated with the testimony of those who have suffered similar experiences. Often, they do not want those stories publicising; they just want to be heard and for Rafiq to know he has their support. In almost every case – and we are talking several dozen – they feel they tried to alert the authorities and were ignored. In other cases, they felt that there was simply no point trying. They key point is that Rafiq’s experiences are anything but aberrational.In the short term, the ECB will set up a confidential hotline which will field such calls. The hope is this will at least enable the sport to understand the extent of the problem. In time, it might also build more trust. Surrey have already released a statement asking any “Surrey player, coach, official or employee at any level of representation” to contact them if they “feel they have ever suffered racism or prejudice on any occasion during their time at Surrey CCC”. Other clubs need to follow. Some of the results of this “truth and reconciliation” process, as Lord Patel termed it, may be painful, but it’s the only way to progress.Related

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In the long term, all cricket lovers – even those Yorkshire supporters who currently resent the disruption they may feel he is causing – may come to reflect they owe Rafiq plenty. Like English cricket’s other whistle-blowers in recent years – the likes of Tony Palladino, Don Topley and Ian Pont – he has endured his share of abuse and isolation. But when they tried to buy his silence, he shouted louder. He wouldn’t be bought or bullied or broken. He has persisted and he has prevailed. We may well look back on this as a watershed moment for the game.There will be some – you know the sort – who claim a pay-off was always Rafiq’s aim. But, by declining to sign a non-disclosure agreement, he limited his options in this regard long ago. Instead, his aim has always been change. He simply doesn’t want anyone else to suffer as he has.ESPNcricinfo understands Yorkshire’s settlement with him (which includes his legal costs) also includes the creation of a bursary, in Rafiq’s name, to enable cricketers from Asian backgrounds to enjoy more opportunities within Yorkshire cricket. It was perhaps more telling, though, that moments after agreeing the settlement, Rafiq committed himself to contributing to another bursary. In recognition of the role the cricket media played in bringing his case to wider attention, he will contribute to the Bethan James bursary; a scheme set up by the Cricket Writers’ Club in the name of Bethan, a 21-year-old journalism student who died suddenly and aimed at helping aspiring cricket journalists from working-class backgrounds. Bethan was also the daughter of former England and Glamorgan top-order batter, Steve James.So, where does all this leave us? With a mess, no doubt. Construction sites often look that way. And things may look uglier before they look prettier at Yorkshire. We’re in for a bumpy few weeks.But we also have an opportunity. For far too long, our professional game been growing more exclusive and less reflective of those playing it at recreational level. We have, thanks to Rafiq’s determination and bravery, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get to grips with this issue. We have to seize the chance. And, if we do, we’ll have a sport – and a Yorkshire – of which everyone can feel proud.

Fast and furious, he often pushed through pain with grit and determination to stay relevant in his injury-ridden career

Alex Malcolm22-Oct-2021Australia couldn’t believe their luck when they found James Pattinson. Another one. Another young fast bowler who could be a generational talent. Another stallion from the stable.A kid from Dandenong. The younger brother of England one-Test wonder Darren Pattinson. But James was a different beast altogether. Fast and furious with a V8 engine and with the heart of a lion. It seemed like he had shades of a young Peter Siddle but supercharged.He debuted in the same Test match as Mitchell Starc, just a fortnight after Pat Cummins, with Josh Hazlewood already in and around Australia’s limited-overs team.It was too good to be true – four express quicks that Australia could call on at any time in any combination to terrorise batters all around the world for the next decade.Related

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At 21, Pattinson tore through New Zealand on Test debut at the Gabba with a frightening ferocity. He took the first five wickets in the second innings including the scalps of Brendan McCullum, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, and Ross Taylor, claiming three in a single over. Fast late outswingers and searing bouncers were his calling card. He was the Player-of-the-Match on debut and Player-of-the-Series after claiming five-wicket hauls in his first two Tests. He was the Player-of-the-Match in his third Test against India on Boxing Day.But the attributes that made him so good were often too much for his body to handle. He broke down twice in 2012, his competitiveness getting the better of him in the famous Adelaide Test versus South Africa as he attempted to push through pain against advisement.He would more than make up for it in his next Test in India. In 30 overs of sheer will in Chennai, he took 5 for 96 while Australia conceded 572. Going wide of the crease and delivering missile-like inswingers at 145kph, he shattered the stumps of M Vijay, Virender Sehwag, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ravindra Jadeja, and bounced out MS Dhoni on 224. But two Tests later, he was dropped as the youngest of the quartet caught up in ‘homeworkgate’.He bowled like a caged lion unleashed at his home away from home at Trent Bridge in the opening hour of the first Ashes Test a few months later. But again, his back gave way and forced him to miss six more months. It started a vicious cycle. He would get a stress fracture, recover from it, remodel his action to get back only to be asked by his nation to go all out again.It was the case in Cape Town in 2014. With the series and the world No. 1 Test ranking on the line, he wasn’t quite ready to return but was asked to push through. While the win was remembered for Ryan Harris’ heroics, team-mates fondly recall Pattinson’s efforts, bowling with express pace and complete disregard for his back and taking the crucial wicket of Hashim Amla in the second innings. Australia won the Test and celebrated claiming the mace. Pattinson’s reward was nine more months on the sidelines following another stress fracture.James Pattinson fought through pain in Australia’s famous win against South Africa in Cape Town in 2014•Getty ImagesHe played four Tests over the summer of 2015-16 but again broke down in New Zealand. The final straw came in 2017 when his back was so bad he made the brave decision to have radical spinal surgery. His surgeon, who had helped Shane Bond back to full fitness, thought it was the riskiest case he had worked on.Pattinson’s rehab took 18 months. There were days he couldn’t move, describing the procedure to have a steel rod inserted in his spine as feeling like someone had encased his lower back in concrete.But at the start of the 2018-19 Australian domestic season, he returned as a batter in grade cricket for Dandenong and second XI cricket for Victoria. He had an ambitious target to play in the 2019 Ashes.Sheer grit and determination and the ability to push through the pain barrier made that ambition a reality. He proved his worth with a stunning return in the 2019 Sheffield Shield final helping Victoria to the title.Pattinson batting at No.7 raised the possibility of him, Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc all playing together with Nathan Lyon in a five-man Test attack. But while current world Test champions New Zealand had no fear in playing their best four quicks together, Australia were never confident to do the same believing Pattinson could only bat at No. 7 in first-class cricket. The quartet never once played together, and Pattinson, Cummins and Hazlewood did only once, in the famous Headingley Test and save for one of the greatest innings of all-time from Ben Stokes, it might have been a masterstroke.Pattinson would play just two more Tests thereafter. A suspension for abuse in a Shield game cost him part of the 2019-20 summer, and a freak injury at home cost him a chance to be part of Australia’s series against India in 2020-21.The depths of lockdown in Melbourne over a two-year period undoubtedly expedited Pattinson’s decision to withdraw from the international game. Endless training in an indoor centre is no place for a lion. The V8 engine needed to be revved on the open road, and it needed to be revved with no fear of breaking down. He can play with complete freedom for Victoria in domestic cricket, whereas in a four-man attack for Australia, there are consequences if his body lets him down, and that seems a burden he no longer wants to carry.Pattinson has 302 first-class wickets at present, 92 more than Cummins. But he finishes with just 81 Test scalps from 21 appearances, less than half of Cummins’ current tally, while Starc has 255 having debuted in the same Test at the Gabba 10 years ago.It seems unjust for a bowler of Pattinson’s quality. But he finishes content and cut a happy and comfortable figure at Victoria training on Thursday.Australia fans will miss him dearly and ruefully. International batters won’t.

Former county colleagues believe England’s new MD has had the perfect preparation

Cameron Ponsonby27-Apr-2022You’d have to try hard to hear a bad word said about Rob Key in his home county of Kent and his legend around the area exists for good reason. A player for almost 20 years, and captain for almost a decade, he was the focal point of the county and steered the club through difficult times both on the pitch and off.”For however many years it was, he was absolutely the cricket leader at Kent,” Paul Downton, Kent’s director of Cricket, says, “in a time when captains probably had more power than possibly they do now with the amount of support staff you now have.”He would have run Kent in so many ways, so you could say he was managing director of Kent in that sense.”Downton knows better than most what lies in store for Key as he prepares to be unveiled in his new role as England men’s managing director, having held a version of the job himself for a turbulent 14-month period between 2014 and 2015, until his sacking in the wake of that year’s disastrous World Cup.”I loved every moment of being in that role,” Downton adds. “It came to me at a time that was right for me and there were lots of challenges all the time. Obviously it didn’t last as long as I’d have liked it to and there are lots of reasons for that and it’s never that simple.”[Key] will bring his skillset which is, he’s obviously a deep thinker on cricket and been around the game so he’s very up to date. From a commentary point of view you’re in touch with modern players and watching the sport all around the world, and I’m sure his contact book is extremely thick. So he’ll be really well positioned from that point of view.”Geraint Jones, Key’s former Kent and England team-mate, shares the belief that his years in charge at the club will have set him up well for the challenges ahead.”Oh, yeah, absolutely,” Jones says. “We went through a tough financial period and Keysey then took on a role of being the general director who was heavily involved in overseas recruitment, the squad, the strength of that and the direction [of the club].”Daniel Bell-Drummond, Kent’s current vice-captain, played alongside Key for five seasons in his formative years at the club, and recalls how his team-mate “took on about four roles” as the county struggled with its debts.”It was a very tough period and the way he held it together… we didn’t win trophies but the fact that we were able to weather that storm [and that] we were able to get through that was a testament to him.”It is a ringing endorsement of a man who, for most of the nation, is known as the joker from the telly, rather than someone who is able to set a culture and navigate a crisis, abilities that could hardly be more in demand from an England MD than right now.For that reason, their initial element of surprise quickly faded after Key accepted the role, as their memories of his leadership credentials returned to the fore.Rob Key takes a catch during the Edgbaston Test in 2004 as his Kent team-mate Geraint Jones celebrates•Getty Images”I never thought he’d go for this job in a way,” Bell-Drummond explains, “But actually, the more I think about it, and the sort of knowledge he has… he has so much going for him that the country can benefit from.”Key’s biggest strength, Bell-Drummond believes, is his ability to relate to any and all – there wouldn’t have been a single person at Kent, he says, who “didn’t think they had a relationship with him”.”Playing under him at Kent, he was a brilliant leader [and] a very strong leader as well in the sense that the opposition would know that that’s Rob Key’s team,” Bell-Drummond adds. “And he definitely has a side where you can’t overstep the mark.”

“He wanted the player to have ownership and the coach to be there to help. Not for the coach to come in and drastically change the player and make them play the way the coach wanted.”Geraint Jones on Key’s attitude towards coaching

Part of that came from Key having a very clear identity on the style of player he liked and the type of cricket he wished to play, which in turn bred a culture of player ownership and prioritisation of talent.”Keysey loves talent,” Jones explains. “And he’ll 100% know what sort of leader he wants. He’ll want a strong leader and I can see why [Ben] Stokes has been the one everyone has said he’ll go to [as England’s Test captain], because Stokesy is Keysey’s sort of player. He’s up for it, he’s in your face, but he’s also incredibly, hugely talented. And that’s the sort of team I can see him wanting to get, is these hugely talented players that can turn matches at the drop of the hat and win Test matches.”It is an assessment that correlates with Key’s steadfast belief in Zak Crawley as a Test cricketer, a player whose ceiling is widely considered to be higher than most of his contemporaries, despite his current struggles to find consistency in the England set-up. In his own playing days too, Key was famously close (too close, in the opinion of England’s then-coach Duncan Fletcher) to both Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison – two of the most talented players of their generation.”Having Stokesy at the top, you know Key was a big mate of Freddie Flintoff who was an inspirational character and he loved Warnie for his skill but also how he approached it,” Jones adds. “So that sort of influence we’ll definitely see for sure.”Downton, meanwhile, is keen to emphasise that Key deserves credit for having the ambition to walk away from the Sky commentary box – a role he had previously described as “the best job going” – and get involved in “something that really can make a difference”.Paul Downton (right) had a shortlived stint as the ECB’s managing director•Getty ImagesBut equally, Key is no stranger to making personal sacrifices in order to take on positions of leadership, having spent his playing career doing just that. In a 2020 interview with The Cricketer, he described his nine years as Kent captain as taking “15 years off my life, 10 runs off my average and 5,000 runs off my total first-class runs. I couldn’t give it away in the end…. I ended up captaining for everyone but myself.”He couldn’t give the Kent captaincy away, and now, in light of reports that there were few applicants for one of the top jobs in cricket, he’s taken on one that it seems no-one else wanted.Such is the state of English cricket that the scope, role and power that Key will have over the game, both internationally and domestically, is really yet to be known.As the ECB have now made clear, his first job will be to appoint two new head coaches. After that he needs to appoint a new Test captain to replace Joe Root, then sort out the ECB’s central contracts, which no longer appear to be fit for purpose, and also manage the budget – all of this while playing a major role in England’s game-wide high-performance review. You could hardly get much more of a blank page than if you opened your laptop and started a new game of Cricket Captain 2022.A boy of one era, but a man of another, much of the intrigue surrounding Key’s appointment lies in the fact that, as a person, he has a rare skill of being able to “tell it like it is” while making people smile in the process rather than wince. He is the people’s cynic.Whether that comes through describing fielding as the closest a human gets to being a dog, bemoaning being shown a picture of a lion from someone’s safari holiday since he could have “googled one myself”, or describing coaches as something “you get to the ground in”, Key has never been short of an opinion or an idea. Only now he has the power to go with it.”That’s a typical Keysey sort of comment,” Jones laughs of Key’s quip about coaches. “That’s a bit of a throwback to the eras that he’s been involved with. You know I can remember first joining Kent and it was still that time when fitness wasn’t hugely important, you know – ‘well why do I need to be fit to hit my cover drive?’ It was that type of tongue-in-cheek comment.”But Keysey’s mindset and what he was big on was player ownership. So you get your game right. You perform your skills to the best you can and that will influence the team. And how do you use the coach for that? Well, you facilitate that: the coach works with you.Related

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“So, trying to read between the lines – and I could be horribly wrong – he wanted the player to have ownership and the coach to be there to help. Not for the coach to come in and drastically change the player and make them play the way the coach wanted.”We went from a period of mass practice to more individual practice and more individual time with coaches, so that shift changed and was something that he recognised and put in place.”And in that role now, he will not be shy of making changes. This summer is set in stone in terms of fixtures, but going forward, however the set-up is shaped, he has a massive part to play.”Talent, player ownership and far more experienced for the role than those of us who have only seen him on TV would have been led to believe, Key’s time at Kent means he could be well prepared for his new role at the ECB.”Of course, the county will take a huge amount of pride in that,” Downton says. “We see Rob quite a bit. He’s obviously been a mentor to Zak Crawley, he lives a few miles from the ground and he drops in from time to time. From the club’s point of view, we’re absolutely delighted.”

India will have at least seven this year. A look at some other teams that had half a dozen

Abhijato Sensarma21-Jul-2022Shikhar Dhawan will be the seventh captain to lead India this year when they take on West Indies on July 22 for the first of three ODIs in Port-of-Spain. Over the last two decades, there have been several instances of teams forced to chop and change their leadership groups because of packed calendars, poor form, and sometimes even administrative turmoil. Here are five men’s international teams that have used a large roster of captains during a calendar year.Seven captains: India in 2022
India had to go with a stand-in captain, KL Rahul, for their first assignment this year after Virat Kohli was ruled out of the Johannesburg Test with back spasms. They went on to lose the series 1-2 and Kohli stepped down from the Test captaincy, handing over the reins to Rohit Sharma in all three formats. However, Rahul had to sub for Rohit, who was injured, in the ODIs in South Africa.Rohit returned for home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka – winning all 11 matches he led in between February and March – but after the IPL, India had to look for another captain when both Rohit and Rahul were out of commission. Rishabh Pant got his first chance at the top, in a home T20I series, which India drew 2-2 with South Africa.They had near-simultaneous assignments next – a T20I series in Ireland, where Hardik Pandya led, and the rescheduled fifth Test of their 2021 tour of England, where Jasprit Bumrah captained in place of the injured Rohit.Rohit was back for the limited-overs series against England, but has been rested for India’s tour of West Indies, where Dhawan is to lead. It will be his second stint at the helm of the white-ball side, having led a young team on their tour of Sri Lanka last July.Seven captains: Sri Lanka, 2017
India’s leadership shuffle is only the second time that an international men’s team has had seven captains in a calendar year. The first instance was Sri Lanka, five years ago, during a particularly chaotic period for the side.Their year began with a tour in South Africa. Angelo Mathews, their regular captain, led for two Tests and two T20Is before a hamstring injury ruled him out of the game for five months. Dinesh Chandimal captained for one T20I and secured a 2-1 series win, but was replaced by Upul Tharanga for the ODIs that followed, where Sri Lanka lost all five games.Sri Lanka persisted with Tharanga in limited overs, while Rangana Herath captained them in three Tests that year. When Tharanga was suspended for Sri Lanka’s slow over rate during the Champions Trophy in England, Mathews returned to lead the side, but he stepped down from all three formats after Sri Lanka lost a home ODI series 2-3 to Zimbabwe. Chandimal was appointed the new Test captain and Tharanga in limited overs, but Lasith Malinga and Chamara Kapugedera also led in one-off ODIs.In October, Thisara Perera became Sri Lanka’s seventh captain for the year after several first-choice players were not considered for a T20I series against Pakistan in the UAE because of their reluctance to play the third match, which was to be held in Lahore.Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann both led England in T20Is in 2011•Getty ImagesSix captains: Zimbabwe, 2001
Zimbabwe had some leadership turmoil when they were at their peak in the game. Heath Streak led them for the first six months of 2001, a period that included an ODI series victory against New Zealand and a historic Test win against India.But he quit the role after disagreements with the board over pay and quotas. Because of the controversial circumstances of Streak’s sudden resignation, Guy Whittall initially refused to lead the team for a home tri-series against India and West Indies. Grant Flower stepped in for their opening match, but Streak returned to the captaincy for the second, and Whittall eventually became the third captain in three matches for Zimbabwe.Streak was reappointed the captain in July, but he resigned again three months later to focus on his bowling. Legspinner Brian Murphy replaced him for a tri-series in Sharjah, while Alistair Campbell and Stuart Carlisle also captained the side through to the end of the year. Six captains: England, 2011
England began the year with an innings victory to wrap up a historic away Ashes win 3-2 under the leadership of Andrew Strauss. Paul Collingwood, who had led England to the T20 World Cup title the year before, led them in the two T20Is against Australia that followed, before Strauss came back for the ODIs.Strauss gave up the ODI captaincy altogether after England failed to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup later in the year, choosing to focus on his Test career instead. The England selectors used this as an opportunity to usher in a new era of split captaincy, which is now the norm for many teams. Strauss remained in charge of the Test team, while Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad were made the ODI and T20I captains respectively.When Cook was rested for an ODI against Ireland, Dublin-born Eoin Morgan became England’s fifth captain of the year. And Graeme Swann got a chance to lead in three T20Is as a replacement to the injured Broad and Morgan.Pat Cummins (right) and Steven Smith led Australia to a 4-0 Ashes win last season•Getty ImagesSix captains: Australia, 2021
In January last year, Australia conceded the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home to an India side missing many of their first-choice players. It turned out to be Tim Paine’s final series as captain – he resigned on the eve of the Ashes later in the year, when sexually explicit messages he had sent to a colleague came to surface in the media. Pat Cummins made a seamless transition into the Test captaincy, leading a 4-0 rout of England, but he missed one of the Tests after being identified as a close contact of a Covid case. That gave Steven Smith an opportunity to captain Australia after a gap of three years, and he led them to a 275-run victory in the Adelaide Test.On the white-ball side, a knee injury to regular captain Aaron Finch in July meant keeper-batter Alex Carey led them to a 2-1 ODI series win in West Indies. In August, Matthew Wade got a chance as captain when many first-choice players were rested for a T20I series in Bangladesh. Finch eventually returned to take Australia to their maiden T20 World Cup title, in the UAE in October-November.

Bengal, meanwhile, have ticked a lot of boxes, and Madhya Pradesh have an excellent array of up-and-coming players

Shashank Kishore03-Jun-2022BengalThe only team to win all three games in their group, Bengal will start favourites against Jharkhand. They have been in Bengaluru for more than a week already, and have played two warm-up games against a Karnataka XI on surfaces tailored to challenge them, according to senior batter Manoj Tiwary. Clearly, they are looking to complete some unfinished business, having lost to Saurashtra in the 2019-20 final.Abhimanyu Easwaran, their captain, is richer from his experiences with the Indian team over the past couple of years and young allrounder Shahbaz Ahmed is a more consistent version of his former self. Their pace battery of Ishan Porel, Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep is among the most exciting in the country. And Wriddhiman Saha’s absence following differences with the Cricket Association of Bengal has opened the door for young Abishek Porel, who was part of India’s Under-19 World Cup-winning squad earlier this year.The key moment
That Bengal have reached here is down in no small measure to some Shahbaz magic against Baroda, who Bengal beat in their opening game despite being shot out for 88 on a damp surface in the first innings in Cuttack. After Bengal conceded a 93-run lead, Baroda set them 349 to win in the fourth innings. At 176 for 5, a spot in the quarter-finals looked distant, but Shahbaz (71*) and Abishek (53*) put up an unbroken 108-run stand to take them home. It was the sixth-highest chase in Ranji history and the highest ever for Bengal.Karun Nair signalled a return to form with his 175 against Jammu and Kashmir•PTI KarnatakaKarnataka are on rebuild mode, both with their bowling and their batting. The retirements of R Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun in quick succession have left them thinner on experience and lighter by 842 first-class wickets. With Prasidh Krishna missing the quarter-final because of national duty, the seam attack will be spearheaded by Ronit More, who has 31 matches and 97 wickets to his name. The batting is bolstered by Mayank Agarwal’s return. He will be looking to get back among the runs after a lean IPL and also channel the hurt of being left out of India’s squad for the Edgbaston Test in England. He will have big names in the top order for help: Devdutt Padikkal, Karun Nair and Manish Pandey are all part of the mix.The key moment
Railways are the only team that scored a 400-plus total against their inexperienced attack. It was a game that could have had massive significance in terms of Karnataka’s qualification had the predicted rains owing to cyclones in Chennai hampered their final league fixture against Puducherry. As it turned out, Puducherry folded quickly and Karnataka wrapped up a bonus-point win to top the group and qualify comfortably. Nair’s return to form with a 175 against Jammu and Kashmir, his first Ranji century since the 2017-18 semi-final, was particularly noteworthy. It came at a time when there were murmurs about his place in the XI.Avesh Khan is one of many Madhya Pradesh cricketers to have moved up the national ranks quickly•Shailesh BhatnagarMadhya PradeshCoached by ex-Mumbai and India wicketkeeper Chandrakant Pandit, who masterminded two back-to-back Ranji titles for Vidarbha between 2017 and 2019, Madhya Pradesh are among the most improved teams in the domestic circuit. The proof of that is that several of their players are in the national frame. Venkatesh Iyer and Avesh Khan have graduated to the Indian team through consistent performances, while batter Rajat Patidar and Kumar Kartikeya Singh, the left-arm spinner, are coming off breakout IPL seasons. But that Madhya Pradesh have made it this far is only because of a better quotient than Kerala after they were tied on points at the end of the group phase. Both sides had two wins and a draw in three matches.The key moment
Madhya Pradesh and Kerala had 13 points going into their final fixture, against each other. A first-innings lead would have clinched the deal for either side. Madhya Pradesh found a new hero in Yash Dubey, the opener, who made a career-best 289. His 277-run partnership with Patidar, who made 142, set up a massive first-innings total for them. And when time as called on the final day of a rain-affected game, Kerala’s first innings was incomplete at 432 for 9, which gave both teams one point and Madhya Pradesh progressed based on a better quotient.Shams Mulani [being congratulated by his colleagues] is currently the runaway leader in the table for most wicket-takers this season•PTI MumbaiMumbai just about managed to squeeze into the knockouts, Royal Challengers Bangalore style. Just winning their final fixture outright was no guarantee. They also needed Saurashtra to not win with a bonus point, against Goa, and the stars aligned. That said, there were shades of the never-give-up Mumbai of old in their approach. Like in the game against Goa, where they were shot out for 163 in the first innings but still managed to win by 119 runs thanks to left-arm spinner Shams Mulani’s 11-wicket match haul. In the last game, against Odisha, Mulani picked up seven wickets, including a five-for, and Mumbai sealed their quarter-final berth. With 29 scalps in three matches, Mulani also leads the overall wicket-takers’ chart at the moment.The key moment
Having conceded a 164-run lead against Goa, they were on the brink at 208 for 7 in the second innings, effectively 44 for 7. Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Sarfaraz Khan and Aditya Tare were all dismissed. Over the next 40 overs, Tanush Kotian, the No. 9, batted with the lower order to make a career-best 98 to frustrate Goa and set up a 232-run target that gave their bowlers a total to defend on the final day. Mumbai went on to win and turn their campaign around in style.

The portents from their Test and ODI decline suggest the way back might not be quite as straightforward

Danyal Rasool21-Oct-2022Ireland had nearly walked off the field before Odean Smith stopped glaring at Chris Gaffney. Mark Adair’s wide yorker, the last ball of the West Indies innings, had landed well outside the tramline, but the umpire believed Smith had moved across enough to not call it a wide. Smith likely had a point, and looked West Indies’ best batter of the innings.But any amends Smith could make off one delivery would have been miniscule compared to the damage already inflicted through most of the innings. In the first powerplay, West Indies had nudged and nurdled their way to 41- for 2. Against Scotland in the previous game, Ireland had faced some criticism for the bowling options they went with at the death, and a quick West Indian start would have given Andy Balbirnie a headache he didn’t need. Instead, there were 16 dot balls in the first five overs with only five boundaries, and 16 of the 32 they had scored until then came off a wayward Curtis Campher over.Related

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It wasn’t the only thing West Indies have done wrong, but Ireland’s approach during the fielding restrictions threw it into sharp focus. Chasing a middling total, they might have been forgiven for not knowing whether to stick or twist. But even Ireland, who lost 9 of 12 T20Is in the summer, and only stayed alive in the tournament thanks to one sensational partnership on Wednesday, highlighted the value of making the most of the powerplay. Ireland would smash six fours and four sixes in the first six overs. The 64 they flew to by that time had taken West Indies a full nine overs to reach. Ireland maintained the three-over advantage till the end, coasting to victory with 15 balls to spare.Since Carlos Brathwaite launched Ben Stokes four times on Kolkata night, West Indies have lost six of the eight matches they have played in T20 World Cups. And it’s this Hobart hammering that makes you suddenly realise how long ago that was. This West Indies side is a mere shadow of that one, and not merely because six years have lapsed. Over the course of three hours, Ireland systematically ripped away whatever little aura West Indies could still lay claim to, leaving them exposed to the disorganised shambles they now are in.The overcorrection following a haphazard, frenetic batting performance against Zimbabwe might not have helped matters, but it didn’t make the decision-making with the ball any less perplexing. Against Zimbabwe, Nicholas Pooran had held Alzarri Joseph, West Indies’ best bowler, back until the third over. By the time he was introduced, Zimbabwe had flown to 28 without loss. In defence of an even lower total against Ireland, West Indies refused to pay heed to the warning signs, only turning to Joseph after 16 came off the previous over.If the way Joseph was managed was questionable, Holder’s complete non-use in the powerplay felt even more dubious. The former West Indian captain boasts a respectable T20I powerplay record, giving away runs at 7.92 per over while the field is up. Pooran would turn to Smith in the fourth over instead, whose economy rate in the powerplay is 11.18. The first three balls? Four, six, four.West Indies have repeatedly dismissed the suggestion they need more spin options in their attack, even as spin crippled them through the middle overs against each of Scotland, Zimbabwe and Ireland. West Indies instead conspicuously left legspinner Yannic Cariah out despite an impressive warm-up game against Australia, seemingly refusing to consider that if spin troubled them, it could have a similar effect on their opponents. Even after the loss on Friday, head coach Phil Simmons – who previously coached Ireland – brushed aside the idea that leaving Akeal Hosein to operate alone on that front might have been an issue.”Well, they have it and they choose to use it against us,” he said. “Those teams play spin well, so we didn’t think we needed it.”I don’t know [if there are short-term fixes]. We’ve got to go back and look at our structure and how we play the game and make sure that when we come to competitions and when we play in bilateral series we are ready and able to do what’s necessary for each situation of the game.”Over these past three games, West Indies showed repeatedly they weren’t able to do some of the most basic things. Kolkata to Hobart might be a long way, but West Indies seem to have found an unfortunate shortcut to go from zenith to nadir. The portents from their Test and ODI decline suggest the way back might not be quite as straightforward.

Another nervy chase brought back memories of that fateful defeat, but Raza’s intrepid decision-making ensured there would be no repeat

Danyal Rasool21-Oct-2022Sikandar Raza chastised himself all the way on the long walk back to the dugout. His face was a picture of devastation, a trauma you couldn’t quite feel the full ferocity of even as he made no attempt to hide it. Once sat down, he buried his head in his hands, inconsolable. When he looked up, the glazed eyes gave the impression of a thousand-yard stare. Haunting images seemed to fill his mind’s eye, even as his team-mates knocked off the remaining runs with little drama.Raza’s dismissal had done little to dampen the spirits of a febrile group of Zimbabwe supporters who have turned out for every game, turning this little corner of Hobart into the closest thing in Tasmania to Castle Corner at the Harare Sports Club. The asking rate was down to under a run a ball, and Craig Ervine was still around to shepherd his side home.Related

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If you wondered why Raza was so cut up about getting dismissed after he’d all but got Zimbabwe home in their chase of 133 against Scotland, you don’t think about a cricket match played four-and-a-half years ago on the other side of the world as often as he does.In March 2018, rain and the DLS method left Zimbabwe negotiating a tricky chase against UAE, but they seemed to be on course to achieve it, and with it seal a berth at the 2019 ODI World Cup; the win was as vital for the cricket board’s financial security as its cricketing prestige. Raza was the man taking them home, putting on a rapid half-century stand with Sean Williams. But an airborne pull brought about his dismissal when Zimbabwe needed 45 off 34 balls, and they stumbled thereafter, losing in the end by a heartbreaking three-run margin. Their World Cup dreams went up in smoke, and just over a year later, the ICC slapped a suspension on them that effectively excluded them from the following T20 World Cup.Zimbabwe cricket is now in a rosier place, but Raza and his teammates can never forget those desperate times. On Friday in Hobart, just as in Harare day, Zimbabwe, playing an opponent they were favoured to beat, began their chase poorly. There was rain in the offing in Hobart, much as there had been in Harare. And the consequences for missing out would have been severe, just as they were then.The dismissal of Raza was a key turning point on that fateful day in Harare in March 2018•IDI via Getty ImagesSince the appointment of Dave Houghton as head coach, however, this side has made the effort to look forward rather than believe Zimbabwe cricket exists in an endless, self-fulfilling loop of disaster and heartache. Houghton has drilled into this Zimbabwe side that there will be no adverse consequences for getting out playing aggressively. But it’s one thing to say it, and quite another to stick to it in a virtual knockout game two days after an overly pugnacious approach was arguably responsible for a heavy defeat against West Indies.But not least because of that UAE game, Raza understands pressure, and the consequences of falling short. With the required rate inching towards eight and belief coursing through Scottish veins, the sound of bagpipes had begun to take over from the melody of gentle Zimbabwean songs as Hobart’s soundtrack for the game when Raza took his first risk. Safyaan Sharif was lobbed over mid-off, a shot Raza really didn’t catch out of the middle. It only just evaded George Munsey and dribbled away for four. Houghton might have told him there were no adverse consequences, but Raza needs no coach to tell him that getting out then wouldn’t have been consequence-free for Zimbabwe.”We’ve been part of too many tournaments where it’s pretty cut-throat, so credit to Scotland,” Raza said post-match, his voice quivering. “Once we bowled well, I felt one of us would get the job done. [thank Allah], It was my turn, but Craig [Ervine] played really well and the two youngsters finished it off. It’s quite satisfying and humbling. It’s quite emotional as well, and pretty pleasing.”I said to Craig your job is to bat through now. Give me eight to ten balls and I’ll try and get it as quickly as possible. But you’re the one who’s going to win us this game and you’re the one who’s going to take the team through. Some of the risks I took came off and we ended up having a pretty good partnership as well and that was instrumental in winning the game today.”Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza 64 runs for the fourth wicket•AFP/Getty ImagesRaza and Houghton seem to understand perfectly the fatal flaw behind the idea that not taking risks is a safe way to play. The rising asking rate will inevitably compel the team to write cheques they might not have the ability to cash at the back end, and therefore, even when his next slog flew precariously close to backward point, Raza refused to be deterred. A couple of sixes – one an exquisite drive over cover – suggested that tiny window of opportunity for Scotland had been sealed shut.Defeat here would have added another bitter chapter to the litany of near-misses that have left visible scars on Zimbabwe cricket, but while the power to change things lay in his hands, Raza had no interest dwelling on the iniquities of the past. Eighteen months ago, he had been diagnosed with a bone-marrow infection that he feared might be cancerous, putting into perspective any pressure he may have felt to find the middle of a bat rather than the edge. It wasn’t until he top-edged a loose ball to the keeper that some of the darker thoughts returned, but by then there was little to worry about. Zimbabwe were almost out of danger, and his intrepid decision-making had got them there.”I don’t believe you can grow as I cricketer if you’re in fear of your own shadow and in fear of playing a bad shot or bowling a bad ball or something,” Houghton would say at the press conference later. “You just can’t grow.”That message will resonate deeply with Raza, who will likely be the only sober person in the Zimbabwe camp tonight. But as he looks upon his teammates enjoying a drink they owe in large part to him, he can perhaps reflect on all the growing that he’s done with Zimbabwe, and that Zimbabwe have done with him.

And which Australian captain was named after the town he was born in?

Steven Lynch29-Aug-2022South Africa won the Lord’s Test by an innings despite scoring just 326. Is this the lowest total to result in an innings victory, at Lord’s or anywhere? asked Vinod Nair from India

There have been two lower totals than South Africa’s 326 in 2022 that have been enough to win a Test at Lord’s. In 1933, England’s 296 proved sufficient to beat West Indies, who were bowled out for 97 and 172. And the lowest of all was in 1958, when New Zealand managed only 47 and 74 in response to England’s 269.In all Tests, there have been 33 lower totals that were enough for innings victories, including three of under 200: Australia’s 153 was too much for South Africa (36 and 45) on a treacherous, rain-affected pitch in Melbourne in 1931-32; England (172) beat Australia (81 and 70) at Old Trafford in 1888; and Australia (199 for 8 declared) thumped New Zealand (42 and 54) in the first Test between the sides, in Wellington in 1945-46.I noticed that Mike Atherton, the captain, and wicketkeeper Alec Stewart opened the batting for England in the Ashes at Nottingham 1997. How often have the captain and keeper opened the innings in a Test? asked Phillip Reid from England

Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart opened the innings together in five Tests when captain and wicketkeeper, including the one you mention at Trent Bridge in 1997. The fifth time – and the most recent from anywhere – came in the truncated match in Kingston early in 1998. Stewart also opened and kept wicket in two Tests in which Graham Gooch captained, against Pakistan at The Oval in 1992, and against India in Kolkata a few months later.There have been only four other Tests in which the batting was opened by a team’s captain and wicketkeeper (leaving out occasions when one person did both). The first was by Australia against England in Sydney in 1886-87 (Percy McDonnell and Jack Blackham). Frederick Fane and Dick Young went in first for England vs Australia in Sydney in 1907-08, Herbie Taylor and Tommy Ward for South Africa vs England in Durban in 1913-14, and Bandula Warnapura and Mahes Goonatilleke for Sri Lanka vs India in Madras in 1982-83.Kamran Akmal effected four stumpings – a T20I record – against Netherlands at Lord’s during the 2009 T20 World Cup•Getty ImagesWhat’s the most stumpings in an innings in an international? asked David Fleming from England

The most stumpings in a men’s international innings is five, by India’s Kiran More against West Indies in Madras in 1987-88, in the match in which the debutant legspinner Narendra Hirwani took 16 wickets.There are two cases of four stumpings in a Test innings, by Bert Oldfield for Australia against England in Melbourne in 1924-25, and “Khokan” Sen for India vs England in Madras in 1951-52 (all off Vinoo Mankad).There have also been two instances in men’s T20Is, by Kamran Akmal for Pakistan against Netherlands at Lord’s in June 2009, and Denesh Ramdin for West Indies vs Pakistan in Mirpur in April 2014. The record for ODIs is three, which has happened 18 times.There are two cases of five stumpings in an innings in women’s one-day internationals, by V Kalpana for India against Denmark in Slough during the 1993 World Cup, and Karuna Jain for India vs New Zealand in Lincoln (NZ) in 2005-06. There have been four instances of four in women’s Tests, and eight in T20Is , the most recent two by Scotland’s Sarah Bryce.Which Australian captain’s first name is the same as the town in which he was born? asked Derek Francis from Australia

The obvious one is Sydney Gregory, who was born in 1870 in Sydney – indeed he was born on the site of what is now the Sydney Cricket Ground, as his father was a groundsman there. Syd made a record eight Ashes tours of England, and was captain in 1912, when he played the last of his 58 Tests.However, your question says “town” rather than “city”, so I suspect you’re actually after another answer. It’s another New South Welshman: Warren Bardsley, who played his early Tests alongside Gregory and had a similarly long career that stretched to 1926, when he was 43. He captained in two Tests in England that year, standing in for the injured Herbie Collins. Bardsley was born in Warren, a small town in central NSW about 75 miles from Dubbo (Glenn McGrath’s birthplace).There was a near-miss with Australia’s Bodyline captain Bill Woodfull: his middle name was Maldon, the town in Victoria in which he was born, where the sports ground is now named after him.Following up last week’s question about the most wickets on a single Test ground, who holds this record in Australia? asked Keith Drysdale from Australia

Top of the table is the great fast bowler Dennis Lillee, who took 82 wickets in 14 Tests at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Shane Warne comes next at the MCG with 56, but he leads the way at the Gabba in Brisbane with 68, and at the Sydney Cricket Ground with 64. Warne and Nathan Lyon have both taken 56 at Adelaide Oval. Glenn McGrath leads the way at the WACA in Perth with 52; he also took 65 in Brisbane and 50 in Sydney. Stuart MacGill is the only other man to pass the half-century, with 53 Test wickets in Sydney.England’s Sydney Barnes took 35 wickets in Melbourne, and George Lohmann 35 in Sydney, to share the record for visiting bowlers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions